FOREIGN FANTASY II
Fairy tales & fantasy from Europe
THE TALE OF TSAR SULTAN 1967
Based on a famous fairy tale in verse by Alexander Pushkin, THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN is one of director Aleksandr Ptushko’s most sublime creations: a ravishingly beautiful fantasy about love, magic, betrayal and abandoned family. Driven from the Russian court by her sisters’ scheming, the young Tsarina is thrown into the sea in a cask with her infant son. Surviving the storm-tossed voyage, the mother and her now magically-adult son land on a remote island where he falls in love with a Swan Princess in human form, and longs for reunion with his estranged father, Tsar Saltan. Like his earlier masterpieces SAMPO and ILYA MUROMETS, TSAR SALTAN is filled with breathtaking imagery: carved wooden lions who shed tears; peasants in pagan ritual masks, dancing in the snow; the treacherous faces of conspirators bathed in red candle glow like the witches in Macbeth.
Saturday, April 4
Director: Aleksandr Ptushko
Starring: Larisa Golubkina, Oleg Vidov, Kseniya Ryabinkina
Runtime: 102 min., Spain
Language: Spanish w/ English subtitles
DONKEY SKIN 1970
In this lovingly crafted, wildly eccentric adaptation of a classic French fairy tale, Jacques Demy casts Catherine Deneuve as a princess who must go into hiding as a scullery maid in order to fend off an unwanted marriage proposal—from her own father, the king (Jean Marais). A topsy-turvy riches-to-rags fable with songs by Michel Legrand, Donkey Skin creates a tactile fantasy world that’s perched on the border between the earnest and the satiric, and features Delphine Seyrig in a delicious supporting role as a fashionable fairy godmother.
Sunday, April 12
Director: Jacques Demy
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, Delphine Seyrig
Runtime: 90 min., France
Language: French w/ English subtitles
BLACK MOON 1975
Louis Malle meets Lewis Carroll in this bizarre and bewitching trip down the rabbit hole. After skirting the horrors of a mysterious war being waged in the countryside, beautiful young Lily (Cathryn Harrison) takes refuge in a remote farmhouse, where she becomes embroiled in the surreal domestic life of an extremely unconventional family. Evocatively shot by cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Black Moon is a Freudian tale of adolescent sexuality set in a postapocalyptic world of shifting identities and talking animals. It is one of Malle’s most experimental films and a cinematic daydream like no other.
Sunday, March 19
Director: Louis Malle
Starring: Cathryn Harrison, Joe Dallesandro, Alexandra Stewart
Runtime: 101 min., France/Germany
Language: English
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 1978
From the rich and textured imagination of Czech visionary Juraj Herz (THE CREMATOR) comes his own vivid reimagining of a classic fairy tale in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The film follows the innocent Julie and her experiences living under the watchful eye of Netvor, a bird-like being torn between his growing affection for her and his animalistic urge to kill. Gorgeously shot, intriguingly surreal, thrillingly sensual - BEAUTY AND THE BEAST retells a beloved story in ways unlike any adaptation before or since.
Sunday, April 26
Director: Juraj Herz
Starring: Zdena Studenková, Vlastimil Harapes, Václav Voska
Runtime: 91 min., Czechoslovakia
Language: Czech w/ English subtitles