Film
Special Event
Filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui in Person!
Santouri the Music Man
Saturday, November 22, 1:30
"The most interesting and accomplished filmmaker the United States has never heard of." –New York Times
Directed by Dariush Mehrjui. Master Iranian filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui, whose 1969 feature The Cow marked a turning point in Iranian cinema and whose 1990 movie Hamoun was once voted the best Iranian film ever made, will appear in person to introduce his latest film, Santouri the Music Man (currently banned in Iran), and answer audience questions after the screening. Santouri follows a popular singer-songwriter and player of the santoor (an ancient stringed instrument) as he spirals into heroin addiction and destroys his life and career. With Bahram Radan and Golshifteh Farahani (Body of Lies). (106 mins., 35mm) Cleveland theatrical premiere. (Iran, 2007, color, subtitles, 35mm, 106 min.)
Special admission $15, CMA members $12, seniors 65 & over and students $10; no passes or Panorama vouchers. Film repeats by itself on Fri., Dec. 5 at 7:00 pm and on Sat., Dec. 6 at 1:30 pm for regular admission prices.
Aspects of Artistic Luxury
Films that intersect, in one way or another, with objects in the current Artistic Luxury exhibition—or with the era during which the pieces were created. Each program $8, CMA members $6, seniors 65 & over $5, students $4, or one Panorama voucher.
Paris 1900
Sunday, November 2, 1:30
Directed by Nicole Védrès. This documentary limns the life of Paris and its inhabitants during "La Belle époque" (1900–1914), beginning with the completion of the Eiffel Tower and the Paris Exposition of 1900. (France, 1947, b&w, subtitles, 16mm, 79 min.) Special thanks to Delphine Selles, French Cultural Services, New York.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
Wednesday, November 5, 7:00
Directed by Lotte Reiniger. A Middle Eastern prince tries to foil the plans of an evil sorcerer in the world’s first feature-length animated film, composed of exquisite cut-out silhouettes and hand-colored backgrounds. Inspired by The Arabian Nights, the film shows the influence of Eastern shadow puppets and Art Nouveau. (Germany, 1926, color-tinted b&w, silent with recorded music and English subtitles, 35mm, 65 min.)
U.S. Premiere!
Klimt (Director’s Cut)
Friday, November 7, 6:30
Saturday, November 8, 1:30
Sunday, November 9, 1:30
Directed by Raul Ruiz, with John Malkovich and Saffron Burrows. The life of Austrian Art Nouveau painter Gustav Klimt—condemned and celebrated for his decorative, sensual paintings—is visualized in this ravishing, phantasmagorical portrait. We present the U.S. premiere of the "director’s cut" of Klimt, 33 minutes longer than the previously released "international version." New print! Adults only! In English. (Austria/France/Germany/Britain, 2006, color, 35mm, 130 min.) Special thanks to Ricki Oelmack, epo-film, Vienna.
Proteus
Wednesday, November 12, 7:00
Directed by David Lebrun. This dazzling, multi-award-winning documentary (with animated segments) explores the 19th century’s fascination with the undersea world (the "outer space" of that era). The film’s central figure is biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), whose many elegant, detailed sketches may have inspired Art Nouveau. (USA, 2004, color, 35mm, 60 min.) Preceded at curtain time by Jon Story and Antony Zaki’s 28-min. Against Nature (Britain, 2005, DVD), an adaptation of Huysmans’s "decadent" 1884 novel À Rebours.
To Catch a Thief
Friday, November 14, 8:00
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. A suave ex-jewel thief is accused of returning to his old occupation in this elegant, picturesque caper set on the French Riviera. (USA, 1955, color, 35mm, 106 min.)
Or make an evening of it: For one price, see Artistic Luxury, enjoy a buffet-style dinner from 6:00 to 7:45, then catch the movie at 8:00. Reserve through the box office: $55, CMA members $45.
Ninotchka
Sunday, November 16, 1:30
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, with Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, and Bela Lugosi. A severe, no-nonsense Soviet agent sent to Paris to supervise the sale of some valuable jewels for her government falls for a debonair Western playboy who represents everything she hates. "Garbo laughs" in this celebrated comedy co-written by Billy Wilder. (USA, 1939, b&w, 35mm, 110 min.)
Salome
Wednesday, November 19, 7:00
Directed by Charles Bryant, with Alla Nazimova. Herod’s stepdaughter dances for the head of John the Baptist in this lavish silent version of Oscar Wilde’s scandalous stage play. Produced by the film’s star, a Stanislavsky-trained Russian stage actress, the film has florid sets and bizarre costumes inspired by
Aubrey Beardsley’s illustrations for the play’s original English edition. Restored version! (USA, 1923,
color-tinted b&w, silent with
recorded music, 35mm, 74 min.)
Angels and Insects
Friday, November 21, 6:45
Directed by Philip Haas, with Mark Rylance, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Patsy Kensit. This brooding period piece, set in 19th-century England, tells of a poor naturalist who is hired to catalogue an insect collection belonging to a wealthy aristocrat. But the strangest specimens found at his employer’s lavish country estate are all human. From an A. S. Byatt novel. Rated R. (USA/Britain, 1995, color, 35mm, 116 min.)
Nicholas and Alexandra
Sunday, November 23, 1:00
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, with Michael Jayston, Janet
Suzman, and Tom Baker. The turbulent final years of Russia’s Romanov dynasty are impressively visualized in this lavish, thoughtful historical epic that reawakened interest in the Tsarist era. 35mm studio archive print! (Britain, 1971, color, 35mm, 183 min.)
The Scarlet Empress
Friday, November 28, 7:00
Sunday, November 30, 1:30
Directed by Josef von Sternberg, with Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, and Sam Jaffe. This orgiastic spectacle is one of the most baroque and bizarre films ever to come out of Hollywood. It chronicles the 18th-century rise of Catherine the Great—from German princess to empress of Russia. Restored print! (USA, 1934, b&w, 35mm, 104 min.)
First-Run Films
Four feature films receive their exclusive Cleveland theatrical premiere showings in December. Each film $8, CMA members $6, seniors 65 & over $5, students $4, or one Panorama voucher.
Santouri the Music Man
Friday, December 5, 7:00
Saturday, December 6, 1:30
Directed by Dariush Mehrjui. Banned in its home country, the latest film by master Iranian filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui (who also suffered censorship under the Shah) follows a popular singer-songwriter and player of the santoor (an ancient stringed instrument) as he spirals into heroin addiction. "Suggests that Iran’s current cultural repression and rampant drug addiction are no mere coincidence" –Variety. Cleveland theatrical premiere. (Iran, 2007, color, subtitles, 35mm, 106 min.)
The Crystal Liturgy: Olivier Messiaen
Sunday, December 7, 1:30
Directed by Olivier Mille, with Olivier Messiaen. This portrait of innovative, nature-loving French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) contains interviews, archival film clips, and excerpts from his music. Presented as part of the museum’s Messiaen Centenary celebration (see page 12). Cleveland theatrical premiere. (France, 2002, color, subtitles, DVD, 57 min.)
Days and Clouds
Friday, December 12, 6:45
Sunday, December 14, 1:30
Directed by Silvio Soldini, with Margherita Buy and Antonio Albanese. The acclaimed new drama from the director of Bread and Tulips tells of a prosperous, middle-aged couple—recent empty-nesters—who face a crisis in their marriage when he reveals that he lost his job two months ago and their money is running out. "A brave film simply for daring to portray a nightmare lurking in the minds of middle-aged workers" –New York Times. Cleveland theatrical premiere. (Italy/Switzerland, 2007, color, subtitles, 35mm, 115 min.)
Love Comes Lately
Friday, December 19, 7:00
Sunday, December 21, 1:30
Directed by Jan Schütte, with Otto Tausig, Barbara Hershey, and Rhea Perlman. Based on three stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer, this delightful film tells of an octogenarian fiction writer and Lothario who has trouble suppressing his overactive imagination—and libido—during a lecture tour. Cleveland premiere. (Germany/Austria/USA, 2007, color, 35mm, 86 min.)
Lapse of Luxury
2008 Holiday Film Festival
These five classics of world cinema chronicle the demise of the 19th-century aristocracy, along with the democratic rise of the lower and middle classes. Admission to each film is $8, CMA members $6, seniors 65 & over $5, students $4, or one Panorama voucher.
The Leopard
Friday, December 26, 1:30
Directed by Luchino Visconti, with Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, and Alain Delon. This sumptuous historical epic is set in 19th-century Sicily at the time of Garibaldi and the unification of Italy. It tells of a prince and family patriarch whose aristocratic lifestyle is about to be swept away by the tide of history. Music by Nino Rota. (Italy/France, 1962, color, subtitles, 35mm, 188 min.)
The Magnificent Ambersons
Saturday, December 27, 1:30
Directed by Orson Welles, with Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, and Agnes Moorehead. Orson Welles’s mutilated follow-up to Citizen Kane is still moving and sublime—and always appears high on lists of the best movies ever made. Based on a Booth Tarkington novel, it chronicles the decline of a great Midwestern family and the advent of the automobile at the cusp of the 20th century. (USA, 1942, b&w, 35mm, 88 min.)
Grand Illusion
Sunday, December 28, 1:30
Directed by Jean Renoir, with Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, and Erich von Stroheim. This humanistic masterpiece, one of the great anti-war movies, explores class differences among French prisoners and their German captors at a POW camp during WWI. (France, 1937, b&w, subtitles, 35mm, 117 min.)
The Earrings of Madame de . . .
Tuesday, December 30, 1:30
Directed by Max Ophuls, with Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer, and Vittorio De Sica. This elegant, rapturous film set in fin de siècle Paris is a high-society drama of adultery centered around a pair of earrings that continually changes hands. (France/Italy, 1953, b&w, subtitles, 35mm, 105 min.)
Russian Ark
Wednesday, December 31, 1:30
Directed by Alexander Sokurov. 300 years of Russian history are condensed into one continuous, 90-minute tracking shot through St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum (formerly the tzar’s Winter Palace) in this unprecedented art film. The camera follows a time-traveling 19th-century French diplomat as he wends his way through 33 rooms and corridors and around 2,000 costumed extras, eventually landing in the midst of the last great royal ball held during the reign of Nicholas II. (Russia/Germany, 2002, color, subtitles, 35mm, 96 min.)