Desert Island Isabelles

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jesus the mexican boi · #1 Post by **jesus the mexican boi** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:06 am

Okay, maybe this isn't the right forum to post this in... but I've lately been torn between love for the Isabelles, namely Huppert and Adjani. Huppert is the actress ne plus ultra with an amazing body (of work), but Adjani is Adele H. whose mad descent into the maelstrom I adore.

Thoughts on Les Deux Isabelles? Which performances are strongest in your mind?

And why hasn't Criterion released The Lacemaker on DVD?

#2 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:13 am

As the board's resident Chabrol booster, let me say the choice is obvious: Huppert all the way. I've seen all the films they made together and if I had to narrow it down, I guess you can't go wrong with her turns in La Ceremonie and Merci Pour le Chocolat... I even liked her in the sort of non-registering Comedy of Power.

jesus the mexican boi · #3 Post by **jesus the mexican boi** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:18 am

I second your Huppert on Ceremonie and raise you Sandrine Bonnaire. I have an unwatched VHS of Chabrol's Swindle that I'm now tempted to put on. I haven't seen Merci either.

Huppert is fearless.

#4 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:23 am

jesus the mexican boi wrote:I haven't seen Merci either.

You gotta bump that one up to the top of your queue, it's probably the quintessential Huppert/Chabrol collaboration.

Belmondo · #5 Post by **Belmondo** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:47 am

I remember watching Siskel and Ebert in 1977 as they discussed a new movie called "La Dentelliere" (The Lacemaker). Gene Siskel raved about a new actress whose name he struggled mightely to pronounce correctly as Isabelle "hu-pair".
Since (apparently) there is a God, the movie promptly opened at the only art house on Cape Cod; where I immediately saw it and have loved her ever since. I'm much older now, but the very image of her still ... well, never mind; that's between me and the aforementioned Deity.
Can I get away with saying that I even loved her in "Heaven's Gate"?

That makes three divine references which I trust will make up for the sin I am about to commit.

tavernier · #6 Post by **tavernier** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 1:01 am

In 1995, when Hal Hartley's Amateur premiered at the NY Film Festival, then-resident fest moron Wendy Keys introduced Huppert as Adjani....a delicious faux pas.

jesus the mexican boi wrote:And why hasn't Criterion released The Lacemaker on DVD?

Fuck only knows....hell, I'd even take a Facets edition at this late date, along with anything else by Goretta. (An Eclipse box?)

Cold Bishop · #7 Post by **Cold Bishop** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:12 am

Belmondo wrote:Can I get away with saying that I even loved her in "Heaven's Gate"?

Why couldn't you? Heaven's Gate is a fantastic movie.

Oh, and one must see Haneke's The Piano Teacher. Regardless of what you feel of Haneke, she owns this film.

Subbuteo · #8 Post by **Subbuteo** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:12 am

Huppert is mesmerizing, everything she touches she raises the bar, despite the material, think Ma Mere. Her beauty for me grows with her age.

God I even love the album she made with Jean-Louis Murat - Madame DeshouliÃ¨res

NABOB OF NOWHERE · #9 Post by **NABOB OF NOWHERE** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:42 am

Subbuteo wrote:Huppert is mesmerizing, everything she touches she raises the bar, despite the material, think Ma Mere. Her beauty for me grows with her age.

God I even love the album she made with Jean-Louis Murat - Madame DeshouliÃ¨res

Don't forget Isabelle as Isabelle the porno writing ex-nun in Hartley's Amateur too.

You've reminded me of the time I saw Lacemaker at a late night showing at the Brixton Ritzy, when lights up revealed a full house completely silent and shellshocked. Nobody wanting to be the first to move.

Recommended viewing accompanied by a good red and a couple of Mandrax .Keep sharp instruments at bay!

colinr0380 · #10 Post by **colinr0380** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:30 am

domino harvey wrote:As the board's resident Chabrol booster, let me say the choice is obvious: Huppert all the way.

As a fan of Chabrol and Haneke may I also second Huppert's nomination!

Adjani is not to be moved to one side casually though: La Reine Margot has a great performance. I've also just got my hands on Zulawski's Possession, which sounds as if it could be quite an experience!

(Though my ultimate 'crush on a French actress' award would have to go to Juliette Binoche!

)

you gotta be kidding me wrote:I would marry them both.

A very French approach to the conundrum! Who would be the wife and who the mistress though?

#11 Post by **zedz** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:31 pm

colinr0380 wrote:I've also just got my hands on Zulawski's Possession, which sounds as if it could be quite an experience!

That's one way of putting it. Adjani certainly gives the performance the material deserves / requires. Sam Neill's performance in the film, however, is mesmerisingly awful. This is the Adjani role that sprang to mind when I read this thread, so I checked up imdb to see what I'd missed since.

Just a quick glance at their filmographies should be enough to settle the question. Huppert has a voracious appetite for meaty performances and has amassed a daunting resume, working with Chabrol, Godard, Pialat, Haneke, the Tavianis, Assayas and Ruiz, as well as turning in fantastic and varied work for Goretta, Cox, Hartley, Chereau, Cimino and Lafosse (if you haven't seen her in Private Property you've missed a doozy).

Adjani, on the other hand, after a couple of early attention-getting performances, has gone on to decorative fluff like M. Ibrahim and Bon Voyage, middlebrow award-beggers like Camille Claudel and embarrassments like Subway. The rare interesting items like Ishtar and Le Reine Margot would be interesting whichever Isabelle was in them.

colinr0380 · #12 Post by **colinr0380** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:47 pm

zedz wrote:and embarrassments like Subway.

True, though don't forget her role opposite Sharon Stone in the remake of Diabolique!

zedz wrote:Just a quick glance at their filmographies should be enough to settle the question.

That is also why I brought up Binoche as I think she might be the only current serious contender to Huppert in the range of roles and body of work she is building up. Though I think Huppert still has the edge as Binoche has had a few poorer roles - Wuthering Heights, Chocolat, Bee Season and The English Patient (I may be alone in only really liking the African love triangle section while finding the Italian parts painfully contrived!)

How about the the older generation though? Catherine Deneuve or Jeanne Moreau - who would win in a fight?

jesus the mexican boi · #13 Post by **jesus the mexican boi** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:00 pm

colinr0380 wrote:How about the the older generation though? Catherine Deneuve or Jeanne Moreau - who would win in a fight?

At the risk of hijacking my own thread, Moreau Moreau Moreau. I think Moreau is closer to Huppert, taking the riskier roles, getting into the grit. I will always love her in La Notte and Elevator to the Gallows and too many others to mention.

Deneuve remains one of the most beautiful actresses in the world. You can fall in love with her whether she's dancing under the umbrellas of Cherbourg or in a steel factory with Bjork.

#14 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:28 pm

What this thread needs are NCAA Tourney brackets

#15 Post by **zedz** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:25 pm

colinr0380 wrote:
zedz wrote:and embarrassments like Subway.
True, though don't forget her role opposite Sharon Stone in the remake of Diabolique!

Not having seen it, I'm in the enviable position of not having to forget it!

How about the the older generation though? Catherine Deneuve or Jeanne Moreau - who would win in a fight?

Jeanne has the strength, but I bet Catherine fights dirty.

Belmondo · #16 Post by **Belmondo** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:01 pm

Had she not died so young, Catherine Deneuve's sister, Francoise Dorleac, could have taken on all of them and won easily.
Which reminds me - when am I going to get a DVD of "That Man from Rio" starring Francoise and that guy from whom I stole my user name.

jesus the mexican boi · #17 Post by **jesus the mexican boi** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:29 am

davidhare wrote:Geting back to Isabelle - the grand prize of all time for dignity in the face of irredeemable tripe goes to her steadfast perf as sicko mum in Christian Honore's ludicrous comedie a clef Ma Mere

I'm not sure that's a recommendation, but now I really want to see the movie.

Belmondo wrote:Had she not died so young, Catherine Deneuve's sister, Francoise Dorleac, could have taken on all of them and won easily.

I've only seen La Dorleac in Truffaut's fine Soft Skin, but boy does she make an impression there. Speaking of Truffaut, Moreau guns everyone down in La Mariee etait en Noir.

pianocrash · #18 Post by **pianocrash** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 2:47 am

I'll third or fourth The Lacemaker's high marks, and add that everything Huppert touches is worth watching, my favorite being her work with Haneke, especially The Piano Teacher. If you have a VHS emporium near your person, I recommend seeking out Goretta's film, as it really is ripe for some sort of rediscovery. I was hoping for a re-release around the time of her career retrospective at MOMA a year or two ago (I have the brochure here somewhere...), but no go.

And if you have the chance to ever see her on stage, by all means, DO IT. I was lucky enough to see her in Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychose, which coincidentally took place during that retrospective, and I'm still reeling just thinking about it.

colinr0380 · #19 Post by **colinr0380** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:13 pm

Belmondo wrote:Had she not died so young, Catherine Deneuve's sister, Francoise Dorleac, could have taken on all of them and won easily.

True, I thought she was breathtaking in Cul-de-Sac. Hard to imagine someone could be more beautiful than Deneuve but Dorleac was. (I bracket her with Soledad Miranda as fantastically beautiful women with careers prematurely cut short).

jesus the mexican boi wrote:Speaking of Truffaut, Moreau guns everyone down in La Mariee etait en Noir.

Picture blog here. Wasn't this used by Tarantino for Kill Bill?

Anyway I'd agree, after all Moreau did train Nikita! (Though I also agree with zedz that you get the impression Deneuve could fight dirty!)

Thulin certainly kept her dignity throughout Salon Kitty but then she was never required to take her clothes off! She has that wonderful final shot in the film, over the last half of which the credits roll, in which she is dressed all in black with a kind of spider's webbing spiralling out around her right shoulder and giving her a dark halo. It is quite a funny ending as she and Teresa Ann Savoy, as the naive girl who has fought her way to the top through a combination of luck and literally shagging the right people, share some champagne and a laugh as the window behind them is destroyed by the first Allied bombs - safe in the knowledge that whatever happens there will always be horny people in positions of power needing 'relief'!

Jean-Luc Garbo · #20 Post by **Jean-Luc Garbo** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:45 pm

I'll take Adjani to the desert. My first exposure to her was... La Reine Margot! Oh wait, too much exposure.

Actually, it was Nosferatu. To go with the time period, she has this Preraphaelite innocence in the film (with a soupcon of French knowingness) but also a gothic waif veneer. Marvellous! (Fwiw, she's better in La Reine Margot than in Diaboliques - even despite her early collapse in the bathroom.) Anyway, I'll take her anyday (no, really) over Huppert. Now if it was Moreau or Deneuve - well, you might as well ask me to choose between my favorite cabernet sauvignons! Or Hepburn over Stanwyck!

Kinsayder · #21 Post by **Kinsayder** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:59 pm

Zazou dans le Metro · #22 Post by **Zazou dans le Metro** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 2:35 pm

One definite candidate for an early ticket will be La Hupp in Claire Denis' newie 'White Material.'

Subbuteo · #23 Post by **Subbuteo** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:09 pm

Zazou dans le Metro wrote:One definite candidate for an early ticket will be La Hupp in Claire Denis' newie 'White Material.'

Yeah, can't wait, two of my female cinema greats.
Huppert as been prolific in the last couple of years, taking on lesser known directors such as Joachim Lafosse, Rithy Panh, Alessandro Capone and Tonino de Bernard.
Lafosse's Nue propriÃ©tÃ© is a fucking triumph, beautiful...

colinr0380 · #24 Post by **colinr0380** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 2:05 pm

I've not seen the film but both Isabelle Huppert and Isabelle Adjani feature in AndrÃ© TÃ©chinÃ©'s The Bronte Sisters - could that settle the debate?