Henry Miller - Asleep & Awake (1975)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | October 9, 2007

Categories | Books, Japanese Cinema, American Cinema, Cannes 60th Anniversary, Documentaries

“I’m excited by film. It’s one of the freest, most effective means of expression. Especially in the realm of dream and fantasy!
What wonders, what joys it may hold in store for us!
Some day film may replace literature.”
- Henry Miller

One of my favorite writers is Henry Miller, who I happen to share a birthday with (Dec. 26th). I recently came across a short documentary about the man called Henry Miller - Asleep & Awake (1975, Tom Schiller), which was made when Miller was 84 years old. Some kind soul uploaded the entire 35 minute film to YouTube in four separate parts and I really can’t recommend it enough if you’re a fan of Miller’s work or just curious about him.

Besides his incredible accomplishments as an author who has managed to influence everyone from Jack Kerouac to Henry Rollins, Miller was also a member of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival Jury in 1960. He was the only Jury Member that year who voted for the erotic Japanese film Kagi (aka The Key, 1959, Kon Ichikawa) to win the coveted Jury Prize over Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’ Avventura, and in turn Antonioni and Ichikawa were forced to share the prize due to a tie vote. Henry Miller also wanted Kagi to win the prestigious Palme d’Or (Golden Palm), but the film didn’t make the final round of voting so he ended up casting his final vote for Fellini’s magnificent La Dolce Vita which helped garner that film the prestigious Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) that year.

Besides Miller’s obvious enthusiasm for Kagi, he also liked La Dolce Vita a lot and had this to say about the film to his friend, the photographer Brassai: “Fellini’s film also lasts three hours, but it doesn’t seem long. It moves faster than the others, is teeming with characters and events. You hardly ever get bored with it. What is marvelous in this film is the satirical depiction of the tabloid press. The obsessive presence of the pack of paparazzi in every circumstance.” (Henry Miller on La Dolce Vita)

In this wonderful documentary which takes place almost entirely in Henry Miller’s bathroom, Miller discusses Kon Ichikawa’s film Kagi in great detail which was based on a book by Junichirô Tanizaki, along with many other interesting topics.

Part I.

Part II.

Part III.

Part IV.

Recommended Links:
- Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company: A Henry Miller Blog is a great blog devoted to Miller that also features some intersting pieces about Miller’s experiences as a member of the Cannes Film Festival Jury.
- Henry Miller: Personal Collection is a wonderful tribute site put together by Miller’s daughter Valentine.
- The Henry Miller Library is devoted to keeping Miller’s work alive and from personal experience, I can tell you that this beautiful place is well worth a visit if you’re ever in Northern California.

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Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg at Cannes

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 24, 2007

Categories | French Cinema, Actresses, Cannes 60th Anniversary, Serge Gainsbourg, yé-yé

While I was looking for old pictures from past Cannes Festivals I came across lots of great shots of the lovely British actress and singer Jane Birkin with her longtime partner, French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg (who also acted and directed on occasion). I couldn’t resist sharing a few of the photos here.

Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg at Cannes, 1974

Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg at Cannes, 1969

Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg stroll the beach at Cannes, 1974

Jane Birkin is still recording music and making movies. She has also started directing and this week her first full-length feature film made it’s debut at the Cannes 60th Festival. Her film is called Boxes (2007) and it’s being shown out of competition. Besides directing the film, Birkin also stars in it along with veteran British actor John Hurt, the American actress Geraldine Chaplin and France’s wonderful Annie Girardot. Boxes has received mixed reviews, but it’s wonderful to see that Jane Birkin is still active and creative at age 60. She’s also still incredibly lovely!

For more information about Jane and her new movie Boxes visit her official website:

- Jane Birkin Online

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Celebrating Cannes 60th At Home

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 18, 2007

Categories | French Cinema, Cannes 60th Anniversary, Terence Stamp

Like many people I would love to be in France this weekend, but I’ll have to settle for celebrating Cannes 60th Anniversary in the privacy of my own home. In true armchair traveler fashion I thought I’d share some tips on how you can throw your own 1960s-1970s style Cannes Festival at home for yourself and a few film loving friends.

Jean Shrimpton and Terence Stamp at Cannes (1965)

It’s impossible to have your own Cannes style Film Festival without some films, so here are a few suggestions for Double Features that are easily available on DVD. All the films listed were awarded and celebrated at Cannes during 1960-1979.

By Themes:
Swinging London
The Knack… and How to Get It (1965) - Winner of the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) in 1965
Blow Up (1966) - Winner of the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) in 1967

Madness and Horror
The Collector (1965) - Winner Best Actor Terence Stamp & Best Actress Samantha Eggar in 1965
Images (1972) - Winner Best Actress Susannah York in 1972

American Paranoia
The Conversation (1974) - Winner of the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) in 1974
Taxi Driver (1976) - Winner of the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) in 1976

Two by Luchino Visconti
The Leopard (1963) - Winner of the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) in 1963
Death in Venice (1971) - Winner of 25th Anniversary Prize in 1971

By Country:
France
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) - Winner of the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) in 1964
Violette (1978) - Winner Best Actress Isabelle Huppert in 1978

Italy
La Dolce Vita (1960) - Winner of the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) in 1960
Two Women (1960) - Winner Best Actress Sophia Loren in 1961

Japan
Harakiri (1962) - Winner of Jury Special Prize in 1963
Kwaidan (1964) - Winner of Jury Special Prize in 1965

Germany
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) - Winner of Jury Special Prize in 1975
The Tin Drum (1979) - Winner of the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) in 1979

Naturally you should have some beverages on hand for your private Film Festival. More adventurous film enthusiasts can always pick up a bottle of French Champagne or give the In the Spirits Cannes Cocktail Page a look. They offer lots of interesting cocktail recipes inspired by Cannes such as the tasty Palme d’Or featured below:

If you don’t drink alcohol don’t despair. Just substitute the Vodka for sparkling bottled water and you’ll have yourself an alcohol free Palme d’Or.

You might also want to feed yourself or your guests, so I suggest giving the delicious cuisine of the French Riviera a try. You can find some good regional recipes at the French Riviera Magazine site for appetizers as well as main courses and desserts. Many of them are easy to put together for anyone who’s nervous about trying their hand at French cooking.

With good movies, good drinks and good food you can enjoy a little bit of the Cannes spirit right at home no matter where you are.

François Truffaut and Orson Welles try to enjoy a meal together
surrounded by the paparazzi at Cannes (1966)

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Vive La France!

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 17, 2007

Categories | News, Books, French Cinema, Cannes 60th Anniversary, Alain Delon, Jean-Luc Godard

The Cannes Film Festival turns 60 this week and that’s reason enough to celebrate all things fabulous and French, so I plan on doing just that throughout the next week until the festival wraps up.

I haven’t come across many books written about the early days of Cannes but I can recommend Cannes - Fifty Years of Sun, Sex & Celluloid: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Most Famous Film Festival compiled by the editors of Variety. This thin cheap large-format paperback book only has 96 pages and it’s put together like some scrapbook that you might come across in a film critics old file cabinet. It contains lots of great black and white photos of directors and actors, plus news clippings and articles about the festival written by various journalists and critics between 1946 and 1996. This is not an in-depth look at the history of Cannes, but if you’re looking for some quick and interesting reading about the film festival with lots if pretty pics, the book is definitely worth picking up.

Here’s a few examples of the writing you can find in Cannes - Fifty Years of Sun, Sex & Celluloid: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Most Famous Film Festival:

Employees of the French film industry take to the streets in protest (1968)

Barricade ‘68: The Day They Seized the Celluloid
by Penelope Houston (Sight & Sound)

“May 18, 1968 - The day the brakes were slammed on the 21st Cannes Film Festival. In Paris, the students had carried their grievances from their suburban campuses onto the city streets. The barricades went up and riot police moved in. A rather frail alliance between students and workers brought waves of strikes. For a few days, it seemed that France really might be balancing on the edge of revolution. And in Cannes, predictably, they launched their revolution with a press conference.

François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard presided over the conference on the morning of May 18. These were filmmakers who had been most active three months earlier in the battle of the Cinematheque Francaise, when Arts Minister Andre Malraux sacked Henri Langlois, the powerfully charismatic founder and head of the Cinematheque. Langlois was reinstated, though with reduced powers, after a protest that involved the French film community, filmmakers from around the world, the major American companies and an interesting sprinkling of left-wingers. Journalists expected Truffaut and Godard to use the publicity spotlight of Cannes and the impetus of the Cinematheque triumph to press their grievances against the Gaullist film establishment. They were in for a shock.

Truffaut and Godard called an immediate halt to the festival, to show solidarity with students and workers and as a response to the national crisis. The occasion was well-timed. Jurors Louis Malle, Roman Polanski and Monica Vitti were on hand to announce their own resignations. French filmmakers promised to withdraw their films; others, including Milos Forman and Carlos Saura, joined them. Still others jumped up to say they would have withdrawn their films if they had been in competition, which unfortunately they were not. I bumped into Richard Lester, hurrying to record his protest. This being the year of flower power and gurus, the British director was wearing what at first looked like a white frock, but what in fact was an Indian-style tunic. Somehow, this rig seemed to fit the surrealism of the day.”

Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford at Cannes promoting Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

May 12, 1972 - Sunshine, Darkness, Nixon, Schizophrenia.
by Charles Champlin (L. A. Times)

“There is something bizarre and conceivably lunatic about coming to the sun-bleached shores of the Mediterranean with a total commitment to darkness

Along the Criosette, the local ladies are airing the local poodles and the international wanderers, vagabonds in jeans, already have spread displays of brass and silver jewelry, leather work and watercolors on the sidewalks. At the outdoor cafe alongside the Palais, the day’s debut has already begun over cups of coffee the color and texture of the Mississippi in flood tide.

The cinema is packed but even the early arrivals sit down front. Godard and the New Wave critics made it an article of faith that film should be a total, enveloping and developing experience, seen from as close up as vertebrae and eyeballs will allow.

Into the sunshine again briefly for lunch at one of the sidewalk cafes. A salade Nicoise and some eau minerale, in a desperate move to prevent the festival from becoming a total caloric disaster.

Back into the darkness again. The stage of the Palais theater has been set with artificial grass and flowers arranged to spell out XXV, this being the 25th festival, though it is the 26th year (1968 was a no-show). The plastic plants have an eerie glow in the dim light, hinting that nothing real any longer exists anywhere. There is a kind of urgent rustling of newspapers; half the waiting audience is reading accounts of the Nixon speech. The feelings of unreality are deepened.

The movie is Robert Altman’s Images, the Irish entry in festival mostly because it was filmed there. Susannah York plays a children’s author in advanced stages of paranoid schizophrenia, hearing voices, seeing dead lovers and being bedeviled by glimpses of her own accusing self. It is a dazzling piece of moviemaking and mood-spinning.”

Alain Delon, Sophia Loren & Romy Schneider brave the crowds at Cannes (1962)

There’s some great old clips from Cannes floating around Youtube that I highly recommend giving a look:

1962 - A feature about pretty aspiring starlettes who come to Cannes with hope of becoming the next Brigitte Bardot. François Truffaut is interviewed and a beat band plays.

1965 - A young and very cute Sean Connery, along with the beautiful Claudine Auger, at Cannes promoting the latest James Bond film Thunderball.

1970 - Lots of footage of the festival featuring the lovely Candice Bergen, who is also interviewed.

1973 - The beautiful diva Diana Ross in Cannes promoting Lady Sings The Blues.

1979 - Francis Ford Coppola explains Apocalypse Now to the press at Cannes.

More vintage clips from Cannes can be found at the wonderful TSR Archives site.

Extra reading:

Girish - On Henri Langlois.

Moon In The Gutter - On Life with Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel.

Flickhead - The fabulous Claude Chabrol Project

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