The Underappreciated Giant of the French New Wave

Jean-Pierre Melville’s (1933-1973) Léon Morin, Prêtre (Léon Morin, priest) (1961), from his own screenplay, based on Béatrix’ Beck’s (1914-2008) autobiographical novel, will be revived at Film Forum from April 17 to April 23. Both the book and the film are constructed as a dialectical confrontation between a skeptical communist woman and an intellectual Catholic priest, Read More

Resnais Returns

Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad (1961), from a screenplay by Alain Robbe-Grillet, will be revived for the first time in decades at Film Forum for two weeks from Jan. 18 through Jan. 31 in a new 35mm Scope print. It was Resnais’ second feature-length film after his electrifying debut at the 1959 Cannes Film Read More

Audrey and Albert Share Swingin’ Memories of a Marriage

In 1967, a Time magazine cover story trumpeted “The Shock of Freedom in Films,” praising Hollywood’s belated embrace of the French New Wave. The article mostly paid enormous respects to Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, but passing mention was made of how Mike Nichols’ The Graduate, John Boorman’s Point Blank and Stanley Donen’s Two Read More