Product description

Jacques Demy's Lola [DVD] [1961] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Price: £37.95
Average customer rating: 4.5

Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780794204341
ISBN : 0794204341
Label : Fox Lorber
Manufacturer : Fox Lorber
Publisher : Fox Lorber
Release date : 2003-12-09
Title : Jacques Demy's Lola [DVD] [1961] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Actor : Array
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1961-01-01
Region code : 1
Running time : 90
Studio : Fox Lorber
Theatrical releaseDate : 1962-10-14
MPN : D5406D

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-06-08 rating:

Not a masterpiece but very likeable
Originally conceived as a Technicolor musical but shot on the cheap (so cheap they couldn't even afford a sound crew), Jacques Demy's Lola isn't exactly the masterpiece critics claimed back in 1960, but it is one of the more likable films of the French New Wave, largely because it's less concerned with scoring stylistic points and more interested in people. What's particularly refreshing is that Demy likes these people - all of them, without exception - and never judges them, and that generosity of spirit carries it a long way. Following the role coincidence plays in our lives through its characters whose paths and hearts cross, it staves off complete schmaltz with an awareness that one person's happy ending is often another's missed possibility of happiness: Demy may not be able to resist giving one character a Hollywood Happy Ending, but it does come at a price to another, while other characters lives are left unresolved. There are a few moments where Anouk Aimee's tart with a heart overdoes the Marilyn impersonations (an affectation of the character rather than the actress) and Allan Scott's English dialogue sounds like it's been dubbed by a German reading phonetically, but they're fairly fleeting irritants and there's more than enough elsewhere to make up for it, not least Raoul Coutard's lovingly shot black and white Scope photography of Nantes. br / br /The Region 1 NTSC DVD's 2.35:1 widescreen transfer transfer, taken from a restored version, is good but not outstanding (though with the budgetary limitation the filmmakers had in 1960, it's doubtful it could look much better). Aside from the original theatrical trailer it also includes an extract from the documentary The World of Jacques Demy about the making of the film, though for the section dealing with the forgotten US sequel, Model Shop, you'll have to buy the documentary itself (available separately in the US or in the 2-disc UK PAL DVD of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg). br /

review by: Borderline Obsessive date: 2007-03-06 rating:

brilliant
This is a brilliant French New Wave film, but the much underappreciated director Jacques Demy. I would recommend this film to anybody in an instant. It tells the story of a dancer called Lola who is waiting for the return of her true love. Whilst waiting she has a son by the man who left her (her true love) and affairs with American Sailers. The film, though called Lola, tells about 4 different stories that intertwine and are connected by meetings, circumstances and friends. This, however, does not make the plot convoluted. It is still very accessable. It is perhaps my favourite New Wave film. It is referrenced a lot in Jacques Demy's later film Umbrellas of Cherbourg - the music, the character names, the town, etc. It truly is a classic and a generally forgotten gem. Please watch!! This film has English subtitles in yellow for clarity. 10/10

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