Maléfices [Sorcery / Where the Truth Lies] (Henri Decoin, 1962)
Sep
10
Myriam Heller (Juliette Gréco) sharing a bed with Nyète, her cheetah. DP: Marcel Grignon.
Maléfices [Sorcery / Where the Truth Lies] (Henri Decoin, 1962)
Sep
10
Myriam Heller (Juliette Gréco) sharing a bed with Nyète, her cheetah. DP: Marcel Grignon.
И дойде денят [I doyde denyat / And the Day Came] (Georgi Djulgerov, 1973)
Sep
9
1944
Mustafa (Plamen Maslarov) running. DP: Radoslav Spassov.
Mélodie en sous-sol [Any Number Can Win] (Henri Verneuil, 1963)
Sep
6
Tue
Mario (Henri Virlojeux), bathhouse proprietor. A nearby wall calendar reads mardi, septembre 6. DP: Louis Page.
Corridor of Mirrors (Terence Young, 1948)
Sep
3
Mifanwy (Edana Romney) anachronistically smoking a cigarette. DP: André Thomas.
La horse [Horse] (Pierre Granier-Deferre, 1970)
Aug
28
1923
Francis Grutti's (Armando Francioli) ID, handled by someone wielding a large stamp. His birthday is August 28, 1923. DP: Walter Wottitz.
“He won't listen to anybody. He's been very crazy all summer. Since June he's been trying to kill me.”Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, 1975)
Aug
22
1972
Sal (John Cazale) and Sonny (Al Pacino) in the bank, holding out with their increasingly impatient hostages. DP: Victor J. Kemper.
– Leon
“These people have faith in me, and I have faith in their faith.”
Guide [The Guide] (Vijay Anand, 1965)
Aug
20
fasting
A scruffy looking Raju (Dev Anand) wearing the orange shawl of a holy man. DP: Fali Mistry.
Ramadan [on the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, not mid-August]: someone atones or fasts*
– Swami Ji
Due to a simple misunderstanding, a farmer mistakes tour guide Raju for a holy man. When drought hits the land, the village fool tells the townspeople that Raju, now known as Swami Ji, will fast for twelve days to bring the rain. During his reluctant fast, Raju undergoes a spiritual transformation.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
“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.
“Is it the form of the clouds, or the tints of the sky, or the colours of the surrounding objects which are so changeable, which have troubled my thoughts as they passed before my eyes? Who can tell?” Le Horla [The Horla] (Jean-Daniel Pollet, 1966)
Aug
19
violet
The narrator enters a violet-blue room via a lavender-purple corridor (via). DP: Jean-Jacques Rochut.
Violet: a building or structure *
– Guy de Maupassant, Le Horla, 1887 (via)
Objects and rooms have distinct colours ranging from the deepest blues and violets to a pale lavender, a muted silver and shocks of yellow. The usage of colour in Le Horla is striking throughout and reminds me of how Van Gogh's paintings became increasingly colourful as his madness enveloped him.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
“He moved over to the window: a smallish, frail figure, the meagreness of his body merely emphasized by the blue overalls which were the uniform of the party. His hair was very fair, his face naturally sanguine, his skin roughened by coarse soap and blunt razor blades and the cold of the winter that had just ended. “Nineteen Eighty-Four (Rudolph Cartier, 1954)
Aug
18
indigo
Winston Smith (Peter Cushing). We only see his frail looking back with the identifier KZ-6090, and his name SMITH W.
Indigo, in food or fashion*
– George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) (via)
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.