The Best Costumes of 1965

by Cláudio Alves

Last month, before the 1938 Best Supporting Actress Smackdown, Nathaniel and I discussed what could have been the Costume Design Oscar lineup had the category existed back then. Now, before the '65 Smackdown, I return to the topic of costuming and the Academy Awards. This time, though, there are actual nominees to consider, both for black-and-white films and color pictures. Furthermore, we know some of the runners-up that came close to the nomination.

Before the reveal of my personal Best Costume Design ballot for 1965, let's examine AMPAS' choices…

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The genius of "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" ending

by Cláudio Alves

Back in the 1960s, unlike now, a film could be recognized in the Best Foreign Language Film category one year and still compete for the other Oscars the next. Such a strange fate befell Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, an intoxicating love letter to the classic Hollywood musical by one of the most inventive auteurs of the Nouvelle Vague. In 1964, the picture was a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film and would go on to conquer four other nods in 1965, the year of our next Supporting Actress Smackdown.

While it's easy to resent the Academy for not fully embracing the flick (it won nothing), the citations it received, for Demy's script and Michel Legrand's music, were fully deserved...

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Deneuve on Criterion

by Cláudio Alves

Catherine Deneuve is one of the most beautiful people to ever step in front of a camera. Since the 60s, she has dazzled moviegoers in projects that span from conventional fare to the craziest experiments. While it's true she may not be a performer of astounding tonal flexibility or chameleonic aptitude, many directors have known how to utilize Deneuve's ice queen persona to great effect. Demy made her into a paragon of youthful romance, Buñuel captured a dangerous masochism in her eye, Polanski made her sing rhapsodies of madness while Téchiné gave Deneuve opportunity to modulate her expression into painful naturalism. She is a muse to many an auteur and it's easy to see why – her face must have been made for the big screen by the cinema gods.

If you want to peruse her cinematic glories, The Criterion Channel is currently streaming a marvelous collection of 16 Deneuve films. Here are five highlights from the collection…

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French Cinema and the Oscars: A Love Story

by Cláudio Alves

France is the most-nominated country in the History of the Best International Feature Oscar, having conquered 39 nods over the decades. They'll probably up that number soon with Ladj Ly's Les Misérables. The likeliness of a nomination doesn't mean the selection of the country's Oscar submission was without controversy. Many a cinephile thinks Céline Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire was more deserving. Without the benefit of being in the race for that particular trophy, the much-lauded period lesbian romance is likely to receive no Oscar love, even though it's eligible for most other categories

While it's rare for French films to be recognized outside the Best International Feature race, it's not unheard of. Since the beginning of the Academy Awards, 53 films have done so. That's not including documentaries or short films (or the number would be yet more inflated) . The Oscars may be very local in their tastes, but they've always shown a bit of Francophilia…

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Michel Legrand (1932-2019)

by Eric Blume

Michel Legrand in 1981French film composer Michel Legrand passed away this past weekend after six decades of work in the industry. He was truly one of the greats. Chief among his accomplishments was the sung-through score for the masterpiece The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), delivering music that soared and perfectly caught the melancholy tone of director Jacques Demy’s pastel/sad view of the world.  The Legrand-Demy collaboration was deliriously French and remains a pristine achievement over a half century later...

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