Description

The Pleasures of Cinema / The Cinema of Pleasures

Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922 - 2008) was renowned as one of the leading authors in the revolutionary Nouveau Roman (New Novel) movement that swept world literature in the 20th century. After his sensational debut with "Les Gommes" ("The Erasers") in 1955, he penned a succession of experimental novels that deconstructed the conventional novelistic framework right from its very foundations. He also entered the world of movie-making when he wrote the original script for " L'Année dernière à Marienbad" ("Last Year at Marienbad"), which was released in 1960.
With works colored by an inverted eroticism and portrayals of fetishism, he enjoyed an overwhelming popularity as a cultural hero in the vanguard of postwar French literature and cinema. His movies were rarely shown outside Europe, however, owing to their outré, scandalous depictions, which often led to bans on their export.
It is high time for an unveiling of Robbe-Grillet, the movie director, in this film program. Let yourself steep in the limitless freedom and pleasures that cinema offers!

Program

*Doors open 15 minutes before the start of each program. *Tickets are valid for one program only.

19 October, Saturday	20 October, Sunday
A Program 10:00 - 11:41 L'Immortelle 101 min 11:50 - 13:25 Trans-Europ-Express 95 min	C Program 10:00 - 11:46 Glissements progressifs du plaisir 106 min 11:55 - 13:20 La Belle captive 85 min
B Program 14:00 - 15:35 L'Homme qui ment 95 min 15:45 - 17:23 L'Eden et apres 98 min	A Program 14:00 - 15:41 L'Immortelle 101 min 15:50 - 17:25 Trans-Europ-Express 95 min
C Program 18:00 - 19:46 Glissements progressifs du plaisir 106 min 19:55 - 21:20 La Belle captive 85 min	B Program 18:00 - 19:35 L'Homme qui ment 95 min 19:45 - 21:23 L'Eden et apres 98 min

●ＡProgram
(19 October, Saturday 10:00 - / 20 October, Sunday 14:00 - )

"L'Immortelle" ("The Immortal One")『不滅の女』
(1963, 101 minutes, France/Italy/Turkey, black & white, Vista, BD)
Direction and Script: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Featuring: Françoise Brion, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Guido Celano

A teacher who has begun spending his vacation in Istanbul meets a vivacious but secretive young woman. In the course of repeated encounters with her, the man is driven to obsession by her mystique… The radical delivery of this tale, which is a drastic departure from the ideas of the conventional narrative film, simultaneously evoked reactions of amazement and indignation from audiences and critics. This is Robbe-Grillet's landmark directorial debut film, and its innovativeness still sparkles.

Screening:
19 October, Saturday 10:00-11:41
20 October, Sunday 14:00-15:41

"Trans-Europ-Express" ("Trans-Europ-Express")『ヨーロッパ横断特急』
(1966, 95 minutes, France/Belgium, black & white, Vista, BD)
Direction and Script: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Featuring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Marie-France Pisier, Nadine Verdier

The second movie directed by Robbe-Grillet, "Trans-Europ-Express" portrays the twists and turns in the journey of a man carrying illicit drugs from Paris to Antwerp, while applying a many-layered, meta-fictional structure. It was hailed as "Europe's most important avant-garde movie" and "the most successful and comprehensible experimental film," while Robbe-Grillet himself called it a "porn flick." Borrowing the format of a suspense drama, this masterpiece jumps nimbly back and forth between seriousness and humor, mendacity and truth, and rational and irrational.

Screening
19 October, Saturday 11:50-13:25
20 October, Sunday 15:50-17:25

●B Program
(19 October, Satuday 14:00- / 20 October, Sunday 18:00- )

"L'Homme qui ment" ("The Man Who Lies")『嘘をつく男』
(1968, 95 minutes, France/Italy/Czechoslovakia, black & white, Standard, BD)
Direction and Script: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Featuring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Ivan Mistrik, Zuzana Kocúriková

The setting is the Slovak Republic toward the end of World War II. A stranger suddenly turns up in a small village. Asserting that he is a comrade of Jean, a hero of the resistance, the man begins to woo Jean's wife and sister. The narrative is based on "Theme of the Traitor and the Hero," a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, included in his "Fictions" collection. Containing vignettes that are nods to Italian novelist and playwright Luigi Pirandello, whom Robbe-Grillet held in high esteem, this film is bound to entice all who see it into the dead zone between reality and fiction.

Screening
19 October, Saturday 14:00-15:35
20 October, Sunday 18:00-19:35

"L'Eden et apres" ("Eden and After")『エデン、その後』
(1970, 98 minutes, France/Czechoslovakia/Tunisia, color, Vista, BD)
Direction and Script: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Featuring: Catherine Jourdan, Pierre Zimmer, and Richard Leduc

A group of Parisian university students hang out at Cafe Eden and indulge in decadent games and rituals. A mysterious man who abruptly appears before them one day holds out a white powder that seems to be some kind of drug on his hand, and the young woman Violette, who ingests it, is subsequently seized by various hallucinations revolving around death and sex. "L'Eden et apres" was characterized by at least one critic as a terrifying cross between "Alice in Wonderland" and the "Story of O." This was the first Robbe-Grillet work to be filmed in color, and beguiles the viewer with its striking color design, sadomasochistic touches, and on-location scenes of Tunisia.

Screening
19 October, Saturday 15:45-17:23
20 October, Sunday 19:45-21:23

●C Program
(19 October, Saturday 18:00- / 20 October, Sunday 10:00- )

"Glissements progressifs du plaisir" ("Successive Slidings of Pleasure")『快楽の漸進的横滑り』
(1974, 106 minutes, France, color, Vista, BD)
Direction and Script: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Featuring: Anicée Alvina, Olga Georges-Picot, and Michael Lonsdale

The young and lovely Alice is arrested on suspicion of having murdered her roommate. The victim was found with her hands tied to the bedposts, stabbed through the heart with a pair of scissors. On the body, an unfinished portrait of a martyred saint… About this movie, Robbe-Grillet himself remarked that the woman symbolized hopes for the revolution which was supposed to be coming. Nevertheless, its avant-garde expression, which could be construed as defying public morals, ignited controversy. This led to the movie being banned in some countries, and even to burning of the film in one case.

Screening
19 October, Saturday 18:00-19:46
20 October, Sunday 10:00- 11:46

"La Belle captive" ("The Beautiful Prisoner")『囚われの美女』
(1983, 85 minutes, France, color, Vista, BD)
Direction and Script: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Featuring: Daniel Mesguich, Cyrielle Clair, and Daniel Emifork

A nightclub with the strains of a jazz number by Duke Ellington's band in the background. A man in a black suit is staring at a blonde beauty dancing coquettishly. His name is Walter, and he is a messenger for a mysterious underground organization. As motifs, the movie uses many paintings including the eponymous one by the surrealist master René Magritte, and is a dazzling blend of fantasy and sensuality. It is the only one of Robbe-Grillet's films that was released for showing at theaters in Japan.

Screening
19 October, Saturday 19:55-21:30
20 October, Sunday 11:55-13:20