It was fun to hear Roller Girl as Brenda was seduced by Jules in one of the pivotal scenes in Mrs. America. The song was by Anna Karina in her signature movie from the French New Wave. As you can see from this video clip, she was easy to fall in love with. However, the album is not easy to come by, although it was one of Serge Gainsborough's best collaborations in my mind.
The 60s and early 70s were a time of free-spirited young women. The New Wave was felt in America with many young actresses flaunting their bodies, such as Goldie Hawn giving us a playful version of Bridget Bardot in Butterflies Are Free. On a more serious note, you had movies like Five Easy Pieces, in which a young Jack Nicholson turns his back on wealth and becomes a roughneck on an oil rig, flirting with Karen Black before falling in love with Susan Anspach.
There was a nihilism to these movies that made them very attractive, similar to the French and Russian novels at the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I suppose that is one of the reasons Hanne Karin Bayer changed her name to Anna Karina, remaking herself as one of the leading actresses of the French New Wave.
Not all these French directors had the best interests of women in mind. Roger Vadim was a well-known misogynist who had given the world Bridget Bardot in And God Created Women, and later took full advantage of American actresses in the high school exploitation movie, Pretty Maids All In A Row. You might say he was the Russ Meyer of the French New Wave, although in Russ's movies women usually got the upper hand even if they were fully exploited in the process.
It wasn't just men behind the cameras. Agnes Varda emerged on the scene in 1962 with Cleo from 5 to 7 and would also go onto make movies in California, although of a much more radical spirit. She became one of the icons of the Civil rights and Feminist movements with her searing documentaries, such as Black Panthers.
My favorite movie of that era remains Jules and Jim, who find themselves thoroughly upstaged by Jeanne Moreau. She was the standout actress of the French New Wave, and a wonderful singer as well, but isn't as well remembered for her voice as are other actresses like Jane Birkin, who also teamed up with Serge on this classic of the era.
Little surprise this these films and records are back in style, as they are being sampled by almost everyone. Light in the Attic has reissued many of these classic albums on vinyl, and Criterion is making these classic films available on its channel, as well as providing wonderful collections of Agnes Varda, Francois Truffaut and many others on Blu-Ray and DVD. Unfortunately, they haven't reissued Anna yet.
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