Saturday, August 31, 2019

# Venice76 – La Biennale di Venezia - Film Festival – J’Accuse – Roma. Polanski – Seberg – Benedict Andrews


photograph - courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

#Venezia 76 - La Biennale di Venezia - Film Festival

J’Accuse – An Officer and A Spy – Roman Polanski



Roman Polanski tells the story of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young promising officer of the French Army, who on January 5, 1895, is degraded for spying for Germany and is sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island in the Atlantic Ocean off French Guiana. Among the witnesses to his humiliation is Georges Picquart, played by Jean Dujardin who is promoted to run the military counter-intelligence unit that tracked him down. But when Picquart discovers that secrets are still being handed over to the Germans, he is drawn into a dangerous labyrinth of deceit and corruption that threatens not just his honour but his life.

Starring: Jean Dujardin, Louis Garrel, Emmanuelle Seigner, Gregory Gadebois. 

  photograph - courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

 “The film is about the Dreyfus Affair, a subject that has been on my mind for many years. In this vast scandal, probably the greatest of the late 19th century, judicial error, miscarriage of justice and anti-Semitism intertwine. During the twelve years it lasted, the Dreyfus Affair tore France apart, causing a genuine upheaval all over the world. It still stands as a symbol of the iniquity that political authorities are capable of in the name of national interest.”

Roman Polanski

Director’s statement

   photograph - courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

J’Accuse - Jean Dujardin



Contessanally: what starts out as a traditional period film turns out to be a masterful, gripping film – bravo maestro – highly recommend.



photograph - courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

#Venezia 76 - La Biennale di Venezia - Film Festival

Benedict Andrews – Seberg

out of competition



Inspired by true events, the film tells the story of A bout de souffle – Breathless - star and darling of the French New Wave, Jean Seberg, who in the late 1960s was targeted by the illegal FBI surveillance program COINTELPRO.  Seberg’s political and romantic involvement with civil rights activist Hakim Jamal made her a target of the FBI’s ruthless attempts to disrupt, discredit and expose the Black Power movement.   An ambitious young FBI agent, Jack Solomon, is assigned to surveil her, only to find his fate dangerously interwoven with her own.

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Jack O’Connell, Margaret Qualley, Zazie Beetz, Yvan Attal, Stephen Root, Colm Meaney, Vince Vaughn, Anthony Mackie, Jade Pettyjohn, Grantham Coleman, James Jordan.

  Photograph ASAC - courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

“I discovered Jean Seberg when my high-school French teacher screened À bout de souffle for our class. I was blown away. I never forgot her amazing, effervescent performance. She redefined what presence and truth meant onscreen. I’m fascinated by Jean’s contradictions, by her combination of fierce independence and emotional openness, her loneliness and her naiveté, her idealism and lust for life. Under the ruthless gaze of the FBI, the threads of Jean’s life come apart. Like the character of St. Joan whom she played for Otto Preminger, Jean passes through the fire. Surviving breakdown and loss, she transforms volatility into hard-won grace.

Benedict Andrews

Director’s statement

  photograph - courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

Seberg - Kristen Stewart

Contessanally: spot on for right now - political thriller – loved late 1960s sets and fashion.