Archive for "Andree Clement"

Midsummer Nightmare: Devil’s Daughter and The Back Streets of Paris

When:
July 26, 2018 @ 12:00 am – 11:45 pm
Tags:
Andree Clement featured French french noir noir The French Had a Name for It

THURSDAY, JULY 26

THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT’s MIDSUMMER NIGHTMARE

“[Andrée] Clément (1918-54) was a seriously weird and interesting talent, with a quality unlike anyone else: fierce, intelligent, desperate, scary and uncompromising.”
—Mick La Salle, San Francisco Chronicle

Midcentury Productions’ executive director Don Malcolm has heard the clamor for more French noir—even before the upcoming FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT 5 this November. So he’s devised a new feature in the singular series—a one-night stand to tide you over till the Fall extravaganza. Join him at San Francisco’s Roxie Theater on Thursday evening, July 26 as he shines a light on the most unusual actress in the entire French film noir canon—ANDRÉE CLÉMENT in two startling mid-40s noirs.

Andree Clement

“We call her the first ‘Goth girl’ for her modern look, her intensity and her unique mingling of darkness and innocence,” says Don. “Tragedy hung over her: she lost her husband at age 21 due to World War II. Her health, always fragile, betrayed her: she was only 35 when she died.”

Louis Jouvet called her “my angel of darkness.” Serge Reggiani claimed that no actress ever gave him the kind of shivers she induced in him when they worked together. Her filmography is slight—just 13 films—but she’s indelible in all of them.

“Resurrected […] for a Roxie double bill culled from the dozen-odd movies she made between 1943 and her premature death in 1954, [Andrée] Clément possessed an unpredictability and instinctiveness that gave her a wild-card quality. Especially in the crime-slash-relationship dramas on view July 26, she seems perpetually on the verge of breaking some convention of (im)polite society.”
—Michael Fox, KQED

DEVIL’S DAUGHTER • LA FILLE DU DIABLE  7:15 PM

Devil's Daughter - La fille du diable

Andrée Clément embodies a desolate psychological space as a young girl masterminding a gang of provincial thugs. What makes the story stranger still is her idolizing of a gangster in hiding (Pierre Fresnay) who only wants to elude the authorities, and who’s being blackmailed into being a model citizen by the town consul (Fernand Ledoux) who knows his true identity. This is one of the most bizarre triangles in all of film noir—don’t miss it!  Dir. Henri Decoin (1946)

THE BACK STREETS OF PARIS • MACADAM  9:00 PM

The Back Streets of Paris - Macadam

Here Andrée Clément is joined by some serious star power—Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse, and the legendary Françoise Rosay—in an ironic tale of the sordid events that swirl around the Hotel Bijou, a seedy dive run with an iron fist by Rosay. It’s the usual plat du jour—murder, deceit, revenge, greed, squalor, prostitution, unrequited love—served up with panache and wit by a stellar cast. Andrée Clément is the long-suffering “good girl” who tugs at your heart—and who will absolutely astonish you in Macadam’s slam-bang finish!  Dir. Marcel Blistene (1946)

Fans of THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT—here’s a fantastic way for you to get warmed up for the fifth annual French noir fest coming this November. Join Don on July 26 and get the first lowdown on another year of incredible rediscoveries! Come see why the biggest names in French film & theatre went gaga over “Goth girl” Andrée Clément…you’ll agree that this unique actress is yet another treasure from the “lost continent” of French film noir.

TICKET INFO  Tickets are $12 general admission, and $9 for Roxie members. Note that all seating is first-come first-seated.