Film for Lunch: French Film Series December 2, 2010

Zero de Conduite (Zero for Conduct)
(Dir: Jean Vigo, 1933, sound, 56 mins.)
Un Partie de Campagne (A Day in the Country)
(Dir: Jean Renoir, 1936, sound, 44 mins.)
A double feature! Vigo's irreverent fable of student revolt in a boarding school -- the greatest pillow fight of all time! -- has inspired films like If, Rock 'n Roll High School, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Renoir's A Day in the Country is an homage to the Impressionists ( of which his father, Pierre August, was one), adapted from two Maupassant stories and not released until 1946 because of the occupation and then the war. A story of unrequited love, set at a quiet country inn (Renoir plays the proprietor), delicately and lovingly told by France's greatest director.

About the Film for Lunch series:
From the late silent era into early sound, a time of formal experimentation and social and industrial flux, a selection of films from five of the most important directors working in France at the time - Rene Clair, Jean Vigo, Germaine Dulac, Jean Renoir and Luis Bunuel. All films shown on 16 mm in French w/subtitles with a brief intro and discussion post-screening. Thursdays at noon, from Nov. 4 to Dec. 2.

Official Website: http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/calendar_more.asp?calendarID=4337