Thursday, June 19, 2014

La Paresse / Sloth

Eddie Constantine, Nicole Mirel. Click to enlarge.
Credits for the complete film:
Les sept péchés capitaux / The Seven Deadly Sins / 7 kuolemansyntiä / De 7 dödssynderna. IT/FR 1962. PC: Films Gibé / Franco London Films / Titanus. Black and white in scope. Poster design: Jean Effel. Helsinki premiere: 2 November 1962 Gloria, Ritz, released by Suomi-Filmi with Finnish / Swedish subtitles - VET 63123 - K16 - 3140 m / 115 min
    Credits for the Godard episode:
Laiskuus / Lättja. D+SC: Jean-Luc Godard. DP: Henri Decaë. M: Michel Legrand. C: Eddie Constantine, Nicole Mirel (as themselves). 13 min
    A vintage KAVI print, deposited by Suomi-Filmi, viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki (Jean-Luc Godard), 19 June 2014

A humoristic sketch on the theme of sloth. Eddie is so lazy that he does not bother to talk with Nicole, nor get out of the car at the service station. Instead, he asks Nicole to fetch for him a sandwich as easy as possible to digest, yet Eddie never eats it. Eddie would even pay for someone to tie his shoestrings. His books remain uncut. Eddie barely manages to unzip Nicole. The naked Nicole: "What are you waiting for?" Eddie: "I would not bother to dress afterwards". Nicole: "Now this really takes the bisquit".
    The "lesson": sloth may be a sin, but it can also can prevent sin.
    In his second scope film Jean-Luc Godard still fools around with the format, starting with the very first shots, of Paris Studios Cinéma, and Eddie's large convertible, both precisely framed for scope.
    A story of lethargy. "Toujours sommeil". Eddie has not had enough to sleep. "Tout me fatigue".
    Nicole has a smart Chanel dress. Eddie is also dressed well, for his next film. But he is just too tired to get in and out of that suit.
    "The cheesy Hawaiian music suits the story well." (Bob Taylor, IMDb, 22 Oct 2002).
    La Paresse is a parody of cool.

The heavily used vintage print has "rain" in changeovers but gives a good sense of the beautiful definition of light of Henri Decaë.

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