Sunday, January 13, 2008
Bay of Angels
Poor Jean Fournier. His first adventure as a man on is with a seasoned yet beautiful divorcee and hardened compulsive gambler. 1962 film Bay of Angels works because of its simplicity. It is the coming of age story meets social disease drama kind of like The Graduate plus Days of Wine and Roses. But director Jacques Demy does not make judgements on the morality of Jean and Jackie. They win. They lose it all. Win and lose again. Jackie's passion and obsession for gambling is all consuming. Jean is over his head and then some.
Jean Moreau is a wonder. She has transormational powers shifting from alluring and seductive to world weary haggard in seconds.
Early sequences focus on the mechanics of gambling. The issuance of cards, changing of chips and roll of the roulette wheel. Demy establishes a kind of sterility with these creating a kind of foundational world that the characters are churned among. No real subplots are established except in passing dialog. What matters are these characters and their circumstance.
posted by well-executed buffet at 9:55 PM
Comments:
Post a Comment