“Marge, my love, my angel.”
Plein soleil [Purple Noon] (René Clément, 1960)
Aug
20
1959
A contract for Marge, a sailboat, dated August 20, 1959. DP: Henri Decaë.
“I thought you'd be hungry, maybe.”
La piscine [The Swimming Pool] (Jacques Deray, 1969)
Jul
20
Marianne (Romy Schneider) and Harry (Maurice Ronet) shopping. Note the plethora of atypical-for-France ingredients, and how the packaging hasn't changed up to today. DP: Jean-Jacques Tarbès.
Shopping for food*
Schneider and Ronet's characters go get their groceries in a tiny, surprisingly well-stocked-with-Asian-food-items French corner shop, ánd manage to find all the ingredients needed. One rookie mistake: Uncle Ben's. Of all the rice in the world…
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for July is, for unknown reasons, mostly not date-related and follows some sort of vacation narrative.
“Everything's crashing here.”
L'eclisse [The Eclipse] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
Jul
10
Mon
Vittoria (Monica Vitti, bottom left) at the Borsa – the Rome Stock Exchange. A clock top-right indicates it's Monday, July 10, 12:31 pm.. DP: Gianni Di Venanzo.
– Vittoria's mother
Les félins [Joy House / The Love Cage] (René Clément, 1964)
May
14
Barbara Hill (Lola Albright) going through Marc Borel's (Alain Delon) passport, which states Marc's date of birth as May 14. On Barbara's desk several curiosities, including a shrunken head in a glass case. DP: Henri Decaë.
“There was a silence different from all other silences, an ashen light, and then darkness – total stillness. I thought that during an eclipse even our feelings stop. Out of this came part of the idea for L'eclisse.”
L'eclisse [The Eclipse] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
Mar
20
natural phenomena
Vitti's blond hair shifts in front of Delon's dark coupe, quietly mimicking the eclipse. DP: Gianni Di Venanzo.
A natural phenomenon for this year's March equinox, three supermoons, and the March 25 solar eclipse.
– Michelangelo Antonioni talking about experiencing a solar eclipse, possibly the total eclipse of 1961 which showed up in the film Barabbas (1961).
During several moments in the film, the main characters' mannerisms foreshadow the looming solar eclipse.
Mélodie en sous-sol [Any Number Can Win] (Henri Verneuil, 1963)
Nov
22
banquet
Backstage at the Cannes casino, stars and stagehands enjoy their well-deserved end-of-season banquet. Just walking in front of the showgirls is piano player Sam (Jimmy Davis). DP: Louis Page.
“I might not look it, but I've got lots of imagination.”
Plein soleil; Die Konsequenz
Jun
15
passports
Top to bottom: Plein soleil (René Clément, 1960), Die Konsequenz (Wolfgang Petersen, 1977).
Watched on June 15 and 17 respectively.
– Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Plein soleil (1960)
“Why bother having money when you can spend other people's?”
Plein soleil [Purple Noon] (René Clément, 1960)
Jun
15
croissants
Tom Ripley (Alain Delon) going though his passport over breakfast. Multiple passport photos, a fountain pen, and a magnifying glass take precedence over his fresh croissants. DP: Henri Decaë.
– Philippe Greenleaf
“Everything that lives is still. Are the hills going to march off? Will heaven fall upon us? Will the Earth open under us? We don't know. We don't know, for a total eclipse has come upon us.” –Lars Rudolph as János Valuska in “Werckmeister harmóniák”
Slnko v sieti [The Sun in a Net] (Štefan Uher, 1963) L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune [The Eclipse: The Courtship of the Sun and Moon] (Georges Méliès, 1907) Werckmeister harmóniák [Werckmeister Harmonies] (Béla Tarr, 2000) L’Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962) That Cloud Never Left (Yashaswini Raghunandan, 2019) Wunder der Schöpfung [Our Heavenly Bodies] (Hanns Walter Kornblum, 1920/25)
#Arcs #MariánBielik #JanaBeláková #LarsRudolph #MonicaVitti #AlainDelon #eclipse #todo
“I still can't figure out if it's an office, a market place, or a boxing ring. And maybe I don't even need to.”
L'eclisse [The Eclipse] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
Jul
19
fruit
Vitti as Vittoria in front of a fruit stand next to La Borsa, the Rome stock exchange located in the remnants of the Hadrianeum. The fruit in the middle is a Melone Mantovano, a type of cantaloupe. DP: Gianni Di Venanzo.
– Vittoria