Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017)
Tuesday, August 1, 2017 at 10:16AM by Nathaniel R
Jeanne Moreau in BAY OF ANGELS (1963)
The greatest French New Wave icon Jeanne Moreau has passed away at 89 years of age. I didn't immediately understand the fuss over her in my earliest years of cinephila. That's no reflection on the silver screen goddess herself but rather a byproduct of my uncommon disinterest in François Truffaut's classic Jules et Jim (1962) in which Moreau is the object of both titular men's affections. That movie reliably excites almost everyone who shares the affliction of cinephilia so I can't say why it did so little for me!
But one day, nine years ago, my dear friend Vern who had been experiencing back pain and whose wife was off travelling somewhere brought over Bay of Angels (1963) for me to watch...
He just wanted to lay on the floor and watch movies. He knew of my Moreau agnosticism and that something had to be done about it because he's a good friend.
The movie proved to be everything I love most about the cinema -- glorious actressing, succinct visual storytelling (it clocks in at just 79 minutes but packs a wallop), directorial flair, amazing cinematography, delicious costumes. I basically never stopped thinking about it thereafter and it morphed into one of my favorite French movies.
Do you remember your first Jeanne Moreau? She made so many movies it's nearly impossible to have seen the bulk of them but if you haven't yet seen any of her classics Filmstruck is streaming Jules et Jim, Elevator to the Gallows, La Notte and The Immortal Story. iTunes has several of her albums as well as two of her rare English language pictures The Last Tycoon and The Train.
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Reader Comments (25)
Les Amants [The Lovers] (1958), directed by Louis Malle. That extended scene of Jeanne Moreau laughing at a bear joke is one of the most delightful things ever rendered on film.
She was referenced by Samantha Mathis in Searching for Debra Winger is the extent of my awareness of her.
Madame, a totally bonkers tony Richardson movie that is totally different and much more interesting than his other work. She's absolutely frightening in it and there's a 20 minute sequence where her and the rugged farmer she pines for run around the forest in the rain, paw and wrestle with each other and make animal sounds. It's based on something by Genet.
I thought that was a still of Madonna's SEX book from the first photo... wow
Have you seen Madonna's tweet? She declares her unconditional love for her which makes sense because she was an absolute legend. I love everything about her especially her musical scenes in Jules et Jim and Querelle and her voice-over in L'amant.
She was on my Honorary Oscar shortlist year after year. Sadly the Academy chose more populist choices.
Peggy Sue --- i love the photoshoot Madonna did based on Bay of Angels a few years ago.
David -- yeah, Madonna loves her.
peter -- i dont know this one but am now intrigued
Elevator to the Gallows. I love movies with great scores and the Miles Davis score written for this film is incredible! In addition, Moreau's face, bathed in shadows, looks simply beautiful.
Gotta admit JULES ET JIM didn't really do it for me, either, although I may have been too young to appreciate it. Don't remember what age I was, but I know I watched it with my parents, who weren't so into it either. (And not for lack of Truffaut love - they like SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER; I prefer THE 400 BLOWS.)
Still, there's no denying she was an icon.
Wow Nathaniel--I've tried so hard to love "Jules and Jim" and have always wondered what is wrong with me that I can't join in the universal acclaim. I feel a little less alone now. ;)
I, too, love Jeanne in "Bay of Angels" -- she's so incredibly chic!!
the video for Justify My Love reminds me very much of Bay of Angels.
Mademoiselle was not based on something by Genet, it was written by the man himself. Masterful, intriguing, dark movie indeed
If you're a queer, actress-loving film obsessive (like myself) you need to watch her in Mademoiselle immediately!
RIP
I have her in my playlist singing "Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves". A great actress, star and icon.
This woman seemed to inspire the best not only in directors, but in composers, too.
Miles Davis improvised his magnificent score of Elevator to the Gallows just by looking at images of her walking in Paris (the movie was already filmed), and Michel Legrand made his best non-musical work in the score of Joseph Losey's Eva, in which Moreau is fierce as hell.
I love Jules et Jim, too.
My first Moreau was Elevator to the Gallows I think or it might be The Bride Wore Black I saw the two very close to each other. No matter she knocked me out in both.
So very pleased to see that I am not the only one who was somewhat mystified by Jules & Jim. I didn't hate it but neither did it bowl me over. Every film of hers I've seen I liked more. Perhaps the lavish praise heaped on it before I saw it colored my opinion. I was expecting SO much but it was just a nice little film.
Loved her brief little bit in Ever After, she was the perfect choice to close out that fairy tale.
It is impossible not to fall in love with her in 'Elevator to the gallows', and 'The bride wore black' is a favourite of mine too. Her more recent role in 'Le temps qui reste' is also remarkable as all her personality was still there. What a wonderful actress.
Viva Maria! Viva Jeanne Moreau!
My favourite Jeanne Moreau movie is also The Bride Wore Black, directed by Francois Truffaut, and based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich, whose pulpy noir novels were the basis for Rear Window, Mississippi Mermaid, No Man of Her Own, etc.
The Bride (Moreau) is so relentless in wreaking vengeance that it is both delightful and disturbing.
Jules and Jim I mentally classify as a movie loved by other people, and I won't spoil their enjoyment of it.
I think I first saw Jeanne Moreau in a photo of the movie Viva Maria, where Brigitte Bardot and Moreau play the two Maria's. I thought that looks like fun, and when I saw it several years later, yes, it was fun.
The first film I was probably aware of her was her narration in The Lover as I think the first film I saw her in was The 400 Blows. My favorite performance that I've seen from her so far is Bay of Angels. Man, it wasn't her beauty that was a marvel to watch. It was the way she just carried a performance throughout. She was a world-class actress and will truly be missed.
She is amazing in Bunuel's very kinky "Diary of a Chamber Maid"
Literally one of my favourite humans that ever lived.
I feel like even when she was 5 years old, she was probably already projecting a world-weary, you-can't-know-me-so-don't-bother-trying insolence....and it just made you want to know her That Much More.
She would've made an amazing Anna Karenina.
Jules and Jim didn't do much for me either on a first viewing - it's not really an easy film - but on repeat viewings it became one of my favourites. And now that I think of it, name one other actor beside Moreau who could so effortlessly complement Truffaut's almost assaultingly inventive vision without remotely getting lost in it. She leaves as great a psychological imprint as does Truffaut himself in his films.
I also feel like she's a major influence on Isabelle Huppert.
And also on every woman that's ever been casually yet assertively sexy in a grown-up non-girlish 'European' way.
And re. comments above - yes, she's phenomenal in Mademoiselle. I also love her in The Immortal Story, Bay of Angels, La Notte and The Bride Wore Black.
My first was La Femme Nikita. I didn't realize at the time that her bit part was actually a cameo of an actress loved worldwide. But her command of the screen was still evident.
Jeanne Moreau,
I saw her for the first time in "Querelle" (1982) by Fassbinder. There was something fascinating to see, a total command of "Being" and "Knowing" about the mystic of movie-making of movie-perfomances.
In the next years I saw almost all the movies of her "great" time: the late 50th till the mid 60th. In every movie she was quite different, but always sensual, with a fascinating presence. She was perfect in all her movies from this years and a muse for some of the greatest director: Antonioni, Brook, Bunuel, Demy, Frankenheimer, Losey, Malle, Richardson, Truffaut, Welles
Strange enough that she was not so often honored by her peers or by festivals. But she will always be remembered as one of the greatest actresses of the last century, an actress with no fear to take on risks.
My favorite performances are:
Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (1957)
Les Amants (1958)
Moderato cantabile (1960)
La Notte (1961)
Eva (1962)
Jules et Jim (1962)
Le procès (1963)
La baie des anges (1963)
Le Feu Follet (1963)
Le journal d’une femme de chambre (1964)
Mademoiselle (1966)
La mariée était en noir (1968)
And as she got older, she hat no fear to show it and it works for her: she was simply magnificent with her deep voice, her wrinkles in her face and the eyes, that could tell stories ...
Now she is gone and I am grateful that she was here to give the world cinema meaning, sensuality a.s.o
au revoir, Jeanne
I first saw the icon in The Yellow Rolls Royce, in which she conveyed an icy elegance that hit me hard. Rest in peace.
Thx Nat! I juz watched Bay of Angels last night based recommendation o this article n I was blown away by this tres chic n sexy litlle movie tt u know only a French director could make.
Moreau is superbly enigmatic n divine as a sorta femme fatale n this is indeed a more profound n juicier part than her iconic role in Jules n Jim..
However, i feel the pic actually belongs to Claude Mann, who matched powerhouse Moreau every step of the way. This is afterall HIS story n the whole story is fr his pt o view...
An almost perfect little French bonbon tt i feel is let down by a too pat ending. We all kno that she's gonna revert to her old ways in no time.