The World of Jacques Demy

((L'UNIVERS DE JACQUES DEMY))

By DAVID STRATTON

(FRENCH -- DOCU) A Cine-Tamaris production, with the participation of National Cinema Center, Canal Plus.

Produced, directed, written by Agnes Varda. This is the third film Agnes Varda has made about her husband, Jacques Demy, since his death in 1990, but it's quite different from both "Jacquot De Nantes," which mainly dealt, in a fictionalized way, with Demy's youth, and "The Young Girls Turn 25," which looked back nostalgically to the making of one of Demy's best films, "The Young Girls of Rochefort." The new film is a deeply personal bio that includes pristine clips from every one of Demy's films (all presented in the correct screen ratio) as well as testaments from those who knew and admired him. Pic will air on French TV Oct. 9, and should have a long life on the fest circuit and, later, on TV and video.

What emerges is not only Demy's deeply romantic vision of the world, but the steely edge he brought to most of his films: the Algerian war in "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," social conflicts and murder in "A Room in Town," the extreme poverty of the Middle Ages in "The Pied Piper," the Vietnam conflict in "The Model Shop."

Actors who worked with the director talk fondly of him, with Catherine Deneuve noting he was the first real filmmaker she met, and Jean Marais, in an interview recorded during the making of "Donkey Skin," asserting that even if he didn't need the money he'd have worked on that film. Anouk Aimee claims she can no longer tell where she and Lola, the character she played in two Demy films, separate. Michel Piccoli describes the scary climax of "A Room in Town" in which "Demy asked me to do the scene like a lunatic," forcing the actor to sing while confronting a naked Dominique Sanda and then slashing his own throat.

Michel Legrand, composer of great scores for "Cherbourg" and "Rochefort," explains his working relationship with Demy, as does production designer Bernard Evein. Varda and her children, actor Mathieu and costume designer Rosalie, fill in personal details, and young women who never met Demy describe the effect his films had on them.

Most surprising, perhaps, is the revelation that Demy originally wanted Harrison Ford for the lead role in "The Model Shop" that was eventually played by Gary Lockwood. The then unknown actor was turned down by the studio (Columbia); Ford, filmed at a snowy Wyoming location, reveals that a studio exec asserted he had "no future in this business." The actor describes visiting real L.A. model shops with Demy for research purposes.

In addition to the beautifully chosen and presented film excerpts are numerous scenes of Demy at work behind the camera, and an amusing home movie showing Francois Truffaut and Jim Morrison visiting a Demy set.

"The World of Jacques Demy" is a major addition to films about filmmakers, and achieves its purpose in making the viewer immediately want to see the key films again.

Camera (color), Stephane Krausz, Peter Pilafian, Georges Strouve; editor, Marie-Jo Audiard; music, Michel Legrand , Michel Colombier; sound, Thierry Ferreux, Jean-Luc Rault-Cheynet. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (Window on Images), Sept. 2, 1995. Running time: 91 MIN.

With: Anouk Aimee, Claude Berri, Richard Berry, Mag Bodard, Nino Castelnuovo, Danielle Darrieux, Mathieu Demy, Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, Bernard Evein, Francoise Fabian, Harrison Ford, Claude Mann, Marc Michel, Jeanne Moreau, Jacques Perrin, Michel Piccoli, Dominique Sanda, Jean-Francois Stevenin, Bertrand Tavernier, Agnes Varda, Anne Vernon.

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