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Author Topic: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film  (Read 17758 times)

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film
« Reply #10 on: August 01, 2011, 05:32:27 PM »
I, too, liked this one a lot. It does pack a lot into its runtime and the pace is almost relentless, but in a fun way. I wonder if this is more typical of Truffaut than The 400 Blows because I also recently watched Small Change/Pocket Money and it too felt like a very brisk film with a lot going on.

This makes me wonder how misrepresented some directors are with that one great everyone touts when the rest of their body of work is quite different. It may not be all that common, but I feel that might be the case with Truffaut.

MartinTeller

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Re: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film
« Reply #11 on: August 02, 2011, 11:56:22 AM »
Harriet Andersson is SO F'ING GOOD in this, I think it's her best dramatic work.  I can't remember now if I put it in my top 100 performances list, but I should have.  Portrayals of madness are really hard to get right.  For a while, we get the feeling that Karin is just kind of vaguely sad, but it gradually becomes clear that she's a person who has problems just existing.

smirnoff

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Re: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film
« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2011, 09:30:37 AM »
A friend lend me this and I've had it forever. I'm still on the fence about whether I'd really enjoy it or not :-\ I like the George C. Scott is in it, I didn't know that.

1SO

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Re: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film
« Reply #13 on: August 07, 2011, 08:46:17 AM »
That was great to read. I know sdedalus and Junior prefer The Searchers, but as much as I like John Ford in general, Liberty Valance packs so much more than his other westerns. I hope people who submit The Searchers in their Filmspotting Top 100 ballot, do so having seen Valance.

sdedalus

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Re: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film
« Reply #14 on: August 07, 2011, 04:21:52 PM »
The encroachment of "civilization" on the west, and the contradiction between the kind of behavior required to "tame" it and the kind deemed acceptable in a community is the theme of just about every Ford Western, from the silents though Stagecoach, Clementine and the Cavalry films through the twins The Searchers and Two Rode Together, and the elegiac Liberty Valance and Cheyenne Autumn.  It's so dominant in Ford's Westerns that it's sometimes conflated with the genre as a whole.

By the 60s, most of the great Western directors had either moved on or been shoved aside.  Not so much from changes in the genre or audience as the collapse of the studio system and the ravages of age.  Hawks and Ford still made a couple great ones in the 60s, but Mann and Fuller and Boetticher and Ray were doing other things, if they found work at all.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film
« Reply #15 on: August 17, 2011, 11:08:45 AM »
Agreed. It's a taut thriller and I think the confined nature of the boat lends itself to the natural build of tension throughout the film. And yes, I liked how all three characters seem like they might snap instead of just having that one obvious guy who will probably loose it.

oneaprilday

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Re: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film
« Reply #16 on: August 17, 2011, 11:24:04 AM »
The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg
Experimentally, this is very appropriate for the time; taking such a straightforward storyline and giving it a huge twist. I must have a tin ear because I could only hear one melody through pretty much the entire film; that's daring in itself. Can you imagine every piece of dialogue being spoken in the same single tone, in another film? It escapes the horrors that would represent, but it had moments where I turned off to have a break and a quiet scream! Of course that sing song tone suits the light fluffy scenes very well and the cast have wonderful voices throughout. There are darker points where the music takes on a melancholy tone but still feels unnaturally light for a funeral or lots of unrequited love.

Girls love things like this don't they? Deneuve can't quite pull off playing 16 but there are times when she turns to address the camera which take the breath away…something for the guys as well then.
I very much wanted to love Umbrellas, but I didn't quite know what to do with it; the same tune throughout got to me a bit, too, and I was disconcerted by the unrelenting lightness of tone the music gave, essentially equally, to everything.  Still, I loved looking at it, and I had a conversation about it with Emiliana, who loved it, and I appreciated it more after that; I'm convinced it's the sort of film that needs a re-watch from me before I can decide what I think.

michael x

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Re: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film
« Reply #17 on: August 17, 2011, 11:30:39 AM »
Umbrellas is the epitome of "cloying" with its color choices and singing style. It was delicious at first, but by the end, I had a sick stomach. That sounds rather negative, I suppose, so let me say I'd still put it in the top half of movies I've seen.

MartinTeller

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Re: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film
« Reply #18 on: August 17, 2011, 11:32:13 AM »
Yep, the "singing" style of Umbrellas really got to me, too.  It was like, "I get this, but I am not digging it".

Young Girls of Rochefort, however, is a delight.

oneaprilday

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Re: From Psycho to Persona (1960 to 1966), The Age of Psychological Film
« Reply #19 on: August 17, 2011, 11:53:23 AM »
Young Girls of Rochefort, however, is a delight.
I was just thinking I really need to get to this one.

(Ooo, and it's on Instant right now!)
« Last Edit: August 17, 2011, 11:56:43 AM by oneaprilday »

 

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