by Nathaniel R
Jeanne Moreau in BAY OF ANGELS (1963)
The greatest French New Wave icon Jeanne Moreau has passed away at 89 years of age. I didn't immediately understand the fuss over her in my earliest years of cinephila. That's no reflection on the silver screen goddess herself but rather a byproduct of my uncommon disinterest in François Truffaut's classic Jules et Jim (1962) in which Moreau is the object of both titular men's affections. That movie reliably excites almost everyone who shares the affliction of cinephilia so I can't say why it did so little for me!
But one day, nine years ago, my dear friend Vern who had been experiencing back pain and whose wife was off travelling somewhere brought over Bay of Angels (1963) for me to watch...
He just wanted to lay on the floor and watch movies. He knew of my Moreau agnosticism and that something had to be done about it because he's a good friend.
The movie proved to be everything I love most about the cinema -- glorious actressing, succinct visual storytelling (it clocks in at just 79 minutes but packs a wallop), directorial flair, amazing cinematography, delicious costumes. I basically never stopped thinking about it thereafter and it morphed into one of my favorite French movies.
Do you remember your first Jeanne Moreau? She made so many movies it's nearly impossible to have seen the bulk of them but if you haven't yet seen any of her classics Filmstruck is streaming Jules et Jim, Elevator to the Gallows, La Notte and The Immortal Story. iTunes has several of her albums as well as two of her rare English language pictures The Last Tycoon and The Train.
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