<<< April 16 - 19, 2009 >>>

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An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

The French have given the world some of its finest directors courtesy of the New Wave and later movements, but perhaps even more influential are the French composers who have created indelible compositions over the years. In the post-New Wave era, dozens of these artists have left their home country to generate scores for Hollywood, and the results have been remarkable: Georges Delerue went from scoring Truffaut and Godard classics to creating the powerful music in JULIA and PLATOON, Michel Legrand swapped Jacques Demy musicals for sophisticated romantic action in THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, and Maurice Jarre gave the world some of the greatest scores of all time in a series of films for director David Lean and a pair of Peter Weir classics (WITNESS and THE MOSQUITO COAST). These composers and others will be showcased in the "French Music Composers Go to Hollywood" series, which will also include more contemporary work by Michel Colombier (AGAINST ALL ODDS), Alexandre Desplat (THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON) and Gabriel Yared (THE ENGLISH PATIENT).

What better way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first score ever written for the screen?

All audience members will have a chance to win the Delerue CD BOX SET courtesy of Colette Delerue and Elmer Bernstein's Film Music Notebook courtesy of Film Music Society.

Thursday, April 16 – 7:30 PM

Georges Delerue and Alexandre Desplat Double Feature:

Georges Delerue is not only one of the most talented but, with over 300 scores to his credit, one of the most prolific screen composers in movie history. He gained notoriety as the composer of choice for the directors of the French New Wave, who called upon him to score such classics as JULES AND JIM and CONTEMPT. He also worked with Bernardo Bertolucci and on many Hollywood productions, the most noteworthy of which are a pair of Oliver Stone classics, SALVADOR and PLATOON.

French composer Alexandre Desplat has created over a 100 scores for the cinema and theater in both France and Hollywood, and has written songs that have been sung on screen by actresses including Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kate Beckinsale. After establishing a successful career in France, Desplat began dividing his time between Europe and America, earning accolades for scores including THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED, BIRTH and THE QUEEN. He received his first Academy Award nomination for the latter and was nominated again for his work on David Fincher’s THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON.

WOMAN NEXT DOOR (LA FEMME D’Á CÔTÉ), 1981, Janus Films, 106 min. Dir. François Truffaut. Bernard (Gerard Depardieu) was living happily with his wife Arlette and his son Thomas. One day, a couple, Philippe and Mathilde Bauchard (Fanny Ardant), moves into the next house. This is the accidental reunion of Bernard and Mathilde, who had a passionate love affair years ago. The relationship revives... A somber study of human feelings. Trailer

READ MY LIPS, 2001, Magnolia Pictures, 115 min. Dir. Jacques Audiard. Carla (Emmanuelle Devos, winner of the Cesar 2001 Award for Best Actress for her performance here) is an intelligent but lonely and sexually frustrated secretary who suffers from loss of hearing. She hires unsophisticated ex-con Paul (Vincent Cassel) as her assistant, and soon the two start using each other’s particular talents for much more dangerous and criminal enterprises. A splendid thriller of passion and double-crossing that revives the noir spirit of Jacques Becker and Jean-Pierre Melville! Trailer

Friday, April 17 – 7:30 PM

Michel Legrand and Michel Colombier Double Feature:

Pianist, composer, arranger and conductor Michel Legrand was just 22 when his first album, I LOVE PARIS, became a smash hit. Concurrent with his enormously successful career in jazz, Legrand became a reliable film scorer for Godard, Richard Brooks, Claude Lelouch, Clint Eastwood and many others; his work on the Jacques Demy musicals THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT is justly famous. He continues to work in film, television and theater, dividing his time between America and France. Michel Colombier is another accomplished French songwriter, composer, arranger and conductor, who began as a jazz arranger and worked in ballet before collaborating with Charles Aznavour, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau and other French legends. His film scores are numerous and superb, with highlights including Jean-Pierre Melville’s DIRTY MONEY and a pair of Taylor Hackford films, AGAINST ALL ODDS and WHITE NIGHTS. A master of rock and pop as well as jazz, Colombier worked with Prince on PURPLE RAIN and on Madonna’s AMERICAN LIFE album.

THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, 1968, 102 min. MGM Repertory, Dir. Norman Jewison. One of our favorite guilty pleasures from the 1960s: Steve McQueen stars as bachelor supremo Thomas Crown, who’s just pulled off the perfect multi-million-dollar bank heist -- until he runs into mondo-chic insurance investigator Faye Dunaway, who can’t decide whether she wants to make love to him or throw him in the slammer! Features some of the grooviest split-screen images ever, courtesy of director Jewison and co-editor Hal Ashby, with beautiful cinematography by Haskell Wexler. Academy Award winner for Best Song, the haunting "The Windmills of Your Mind," by Michel Legrand and Alan & Marilyn Bergman. Trailer

AGAINST ALL ODDS, 1984, Sony Repertory, 128 min. Director Taylor Hackford reinvents film noir by taking it out of the shadows and setting it in the blinding Southern California sun in this sexy riff on OUT OF THE PAST. Jeff Bridges is a washed-up pro football star who gets in over his head after he takes a job going after James Woods’ fugitive girlfriend. When Bridges finds the woman -- the beautiful Rachel Ward -- sparks fly, and the ex-athlete’s desire quickly leads him into a complicated web of lies, betrayal, and murder. Michel Colombier’s innovative score was one of the first to employ synthesizers extensively and effectively, a technique that would influence many 1980s movies to follow. Trailer

Saturday, April 18 – 7:30 PM

Maurice Jarre Double Feature:

French composer and conductor Maurice Jarre is most famous for his three Academy Award-winning scores for director David Lean (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, and A PASSAGE TO INDIA), but these are just a few of his many masterful works. A writer of both film and concert works, Jarre embodies the concept of versatility: He has worked for European masters like Visconti (THE DAMNED) as well as with slapstick auteurs Zucker, Zucker and Abrahams (TOP SECRET!) and is responsible for some of the finest television movie scores in history (JESUS OF NAZARETH, SHOGUN and the theme for "Great Performances"). One of his most rewarding ongoing collaborations is with director Peter Weir, and the Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre presents two of the best movies to emerge from this partnership.

WITNESS, 1985, Paramount, 112 min. Dir. Peter Weir. Harrison Ford shines in one of his best dramatic roles as a Philadelphia cop who hides out in an Amish community – and finds himself falling in love with widow Kelly McGillis. The film also sports the feature film debut of actor Viggo Mortensen in a small supporting role. "The visual look [of WITNESS] comes very much from Flemish and German painting." – Peter Weir. Trailer

THE MOSQUITO COAST, 1986, Warner Bros., 117 min. Working from a Paul Schrader script adapted from the Paul Theroux novel, Peter Weir directs an uncompromising, complex character study of spiritual crisis teetering over the brink into madness. Harrison Ford gives one of his finest performances as an egocentric inventor determined to realize his utopian ideal in the backwaters of Central America, even if it destroys his family (Helen Mirren is his wife, River Phoenix his eldest son). A harrowing journey into a modern heart of darkness. Trailer

Sunday, April 19 – 7:30 PM

Georges Delerue and Gabriel Yared Double Feature:

Georges Delerue is not only one of the most talented but, with over 300 scores to his credit, one of the most prolific screen composers in movie history. He gained notoriety as the composer of choice for the directors of the French New Wave, who called upon him to score such classics as JULES AND JIM and CONTEMPT. He also worked with Bernardo Bertolucci and on many Hollywood productions, the most noteworthy of which are a pair of Oliver Stone classics, SALVADOR and PLATOON. Lebanese composer Gabriel Yared also made his name working with both French and American directors, making his mark in the 1980s with BETTY BLUE and CAMILLE CLAUDEL as well as a pair of collaborations with Robert Altman, BEYOND THERAPY and VINCENT AND THEO. Since then he has proven himself to be a deft scorer of everything from romance (MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE, POSSESSION) to horror (1408), and has been nominated for multiple Academy Awards for his work with Anthony Minghella (he won for THE ENGLISH PATIENT).

JULIA, 1977, 20th Century Fox, 117 min. Dir. Fred Zinnemann. Jane Fonda plays Lillian Hellman in this autobiographical tale of Hellman’s friendship with Julia (Vanessa Redgrave), a radiant woman who indoctrinates Hellman into the 1930s European resistance movement. Jason Robards is superb in an Oscar-winning performance as Dashiell Hammett, as are Maxmillian Schell, Hal Holbrook and Meryl Streep in her feature film debut. Georges Delerue’s lyrical score was nominated for an Academy Award.

THE ENGLISH PATIENT, 1996, Miramax, 162 min. Dir. Anthony Minghella. Ralph Fiennes is badly burned in a WWII plane crash and wakes up in a monastery, where he claims to have no memory of who he is. As nurse Juliette Binoche tends to him, his story emerges in flashbacks, and his passionate affair with Kristin Scott Thomas forms the basis of one of the most beloved romances in movie history. Gabriel Yared’s Oscar-winning score anchors a richly layered, novelistic epic that recalls the best films of David Lean and David O. Selznick. Trailer