Lola
1961. France. Written and directed by Jacques Demy. With Anouk Aimée, Marc Michel, Alan Scott, Jacques Harden, Elina Labourdette. Demy’s insouciant first feature—shot by Raoul Coutard in black-and-white CinemaScope—is also his most New Wave, and Lola herself, the stunningly beautiful Anouk Aimée, kicks off To Save and Project by introducing it. Dedicated to Max Ophuls, Lola begins with a white Cadillac convertible parked on a French beach. American sailors roam through the port (Demy’s hometown of Nantes) and a sad young man, just fired from his boring job, seeks solace in an obscure Mark Robson movie with an aging Gary Cooper. This fondness for fantasy America extends to Lola’s heroine: Aimée’s romantic character may be named for Marlene Dietrich’s femme fatale, but basically she’s playing a Gallic version of Marilyn Monroe—at once brazen and vulnerable, voluptuous, and childlike. Full of breathy chatter and giggly innocence, she’s a siren who explains: “There’s a bit of happiness in simply wanting happiness.” The original negative of Lola was destroyed in a fire. This brand new restoration by Ciné-Tamaris, Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage and Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema, overseen by Agnès Varda and Raoul Coutard, represents a major effort to return the film to its original glory. Courtesy Janus Films. Special thanks to Institut français. In French; English subtitles. 85 min.
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