Other Titles • Les Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma (1995) • Hundert und eine Nacht (1995) • A Hundred and One Nights of Simon Cinema • A Hundred and One Nights • Les Cent et une Nuits • One Hundred and One Nights
Synopses for Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma, Les (1995)
1.
Agnès Varda's giddy, goofy love letter to the cinema resembles countless movie moments that have been shaken, not stirred, and poured out as a rich, heady cocktail. The phantom of a plot finds vivacious but aging film legend Simon Cinema (Michel Piccoli in a moppy blonde wig) spending his waning days reminiscing over the history of movies with the young Camille (perky, spirited Julie Gayet) and his best friend, an unnamed matinee idol identified in the credits only as "the Italian movie star" and played with great charm by Marcello Mastroianni. Simon "becomes" the film greats under discussion (from Luis Buñuel to Gene Kelly, and in one inspired moment even Michel Piccoli himself) while dozens of real-life cinema legends stop by to pay their respects. The list of cameos is a veritable who's who of American and European cinema: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Catherine Deneuve, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Gina Lollobrigida, Jeanne Moreau, Hanna Schygulla, and dozens more. As intimate as A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Cinema and as idiosyncratic as a Jean-Luc Godard cinema essay, this is film history as coffeehouse banter, adorned with film clips, inspired tributes, jokey references to classic scenes, and a score swimming in memorable musical motifs. If you're not in on the joke, Varda's tribute may seem arcane and obscure, but die-hard film lovers and cinema buffs will appreciate her affectionate whimsy as she ricochets and riffs through the legacy of film. --Sean Axmaker
2.
Agnes Varda reflects on her fifty years of filmmaking as well as the entire hundred-year history of the medium. Casting Michel Piccoli (CONTEMPT, BELLE DU JOUR) both as himself and also as Simon Cinema, legendary figure of film history, Varda sets up a rollicking parable of cinematic flashbacks, cameos, and commentary, all supported by a light romantic intrigue. When Simon Cinema hires beautiful Camille, an aspiring film buff, to help spur his memory, a stylized and compelling parade of film clips, images, actors, and icons makes cameos at Cinema’s spacious villa on the outskirts of Paris. Filmed in beautiful and extravagantly lush hues and outlandish and constantly changing sets, the film progresses as a series of comedic memory-jogging sessions. As Cinema and his "Italian friend" Marcello Mastroianni discuss and argue, they are visited by, among others, the founders of film--the Lumiere Brothers, Anouk Aimee, Jean Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, and Robert De Niro. Along the way Camille concocts a halfhearted plot to claim Cinema’s inheritance in order to fund her boyfriend’s first film. Not only a passionate backward glance at the history of film, ONE HUNDRED AND ONE NIGHTS also states a case for a future generation of film lovers and filmmakers.
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