criterioncorner:

THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW ANNA KARINA & JEAN-LUC GODARD FIRST “GOT TOGETHER”

Anna Karina: That happened while we were shooting the picture in Geneva. It was a strange love story from the beginning. I could see Jean-Luc was looking at me all the time, and I was looking at him too, all day long.  We were like animals. One night we were at this dinner in Lausanne. My boyfriend, who was a painter, was there too. And suddenly I felt something under the table – it was Jean-Luc’s hand. He gave me a piece of paper and then left to drive back to Geneva. I went into another room to see what he’d written.  It said, “I love you.  Rendezvous at midnight at the Café de la Prez.” And then my boyfriend came into the room and demanded to see the piece of paper, and he took my arm and grabbed it and read it.  He said, “You’re not going.” And I said, “I am.” And he said, “But you can’t do this to me.”  I said, “But I’m in love too, so I’m going.” But he still didn’t believe me. We drove back to Geneva and I started to pack my tiny suitcase.  He said, “Tell me you’re not going.” And I said, “I’ve been in love with him since I saw him the second time. And I can’t do anything about it.” It was like something electric. I walked there, and I remember my painter was running after me crying. I was, like, hypnotized – it never happened again to me in my life.

So I get to the Cafe de la Prez, and Jean-Luc was sitting there reading a paper, but I don’t think he was really reading it. I just stood there in front of him for what seemed like an hour but I guess was not more than thirty seconds. Suddenly he stopped reading and said,” Here you are. Shall we go?” So we went to his hotel. The next morning when I woke up he wasn’t there. I got very worried. I took a shower, and then he came back about an hour later with the dress I wore in the film - the white dress with flowers. And it was my size, perfect. It was like my wedding dress.

We carried on shooting the film, and, of course, my painter left. When the picture was finished, I went back to Paris with Jean-Luc, Michel Subor, who was the main actor, and Laszlo Szabo, who was also in the film, in Jean-Luc’s American car. We were all wearing dark glasses and we got stopped at the border – I guess they thought we were gangsters. When we arrived in Paris, Jean-Luc dropped the other two off and said to me, “Where are you going?”  I said, “I have to stay with you. You’re the only person I have in the world now.” And he said, “Oh my God.”

Extract taken from an interview with Anna Karina conducted by Graham Fuller in Projections 13: Women Film-makers on Film-making, edited by Isabella Weibrecht, John Boorman and Walter Donohue (Faber & Faber, 2004) 

(via Focus Features)

thisisanamednightingale:

I still cannot believe they are making a film adaptation for On The Road

It will be hitting theaters next year. The film is led by director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries, “Loin du 16e” from Paris, Je T’aime). I’m pretty excited to see how the book will translate into the big screen. Jose Rivera wrote the screenplay, and I’m pretty happy with The Motorcycle Diaries (the only movie I’ve watched that he’s written).

Who are the actors?
Kristen Stewart will be playing Marylou - weird. The guy from Control (Sam Riley) will be playing Sal Paradise and Garrett Hedlund as Dean Moriarty. Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen are playing Camille and Old Bull Lee respectively. Steven Buscemi’s role isn’t released, so he’ll probably be a minor character. Nonetheless, I’m glad he’s in it. : D It’ll be interesting seeing them as Beats.

So last summer, while reading thru Keroac’s On the Road: The Original Scroll, I learned they finally started filming this long-running project — it’s been 53 years since F. F. Coppola bought the filming rights. I’ve been waiting to see this ever since and after being letdown a couple of months ago when a friend suddenly asked me to go see the premiere with her which turned out to be a loosely inspired low-budget social engagement piece about a group of scooter fanatics driving from their small village to Bruges (an incredible 30 miles) the official film has now officially premiered yesterday in Cannes. Reactions seem widely negative so far, though I haven’t found one that criticizes the actual film instead of the alleged hedonism & narcissism of the beats. Despite having nil good experiences with watching films after reading the books they’re based on, I remain curious.

thisisanamednightingale:

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe

(via allisonelisabeta)

At the 1985 festival, a middle-aged man threw a shaving cream cake at French film director Jean-Luc Godard before the screening of his film Detective. To add insult to injury, the movie was booed by the audience at the screening.

(via salesonfilm)

(via carpates)

(via carpates)