La Baie des Anges
Bay of angels
Jacques Demy
(From the Cinematheque series ‘Jacques Demy’s Cinema of Joy’)
France, 1962, B&W
79 minutes Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Claude Mann
Cinematheque, 2002, Tues July 09
IMDB
Also by Demy (unseen):
Lola, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Le Sabotier du Val de Loire, Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, Peau D’Ane, The Model Shop.
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A very beautiful movie. A young man works in an office in Paris. His co-worker gives him a ride home in his car; it is a new DB (Citroen). Where did he get the new car? They have the same salary. He won it gambling. And so the story begins� He begins gambling in the beautiful gambling houses, with dress codes and polite manners. He wins, he loses, he wins. His father disapproves. He gets locked out of the house, meets the ex-wife of a rich industrialist who is addicted to gambling and they run away together. Nice, other towns, money, no money, new cars, sell the new cars to pay for gambling debts. He says to his new mistress: “You must love money.” “Money?” she replies, “I can’t abide money. Look at the way I spend it.” In the end they are broke again, and broken up again. She is older then him, and addicted worse. Giving in, he writes his father, asking if he might return to Paris, and requests travel money. His father recants and sends the funds. He divides it in two, so he and the ex-industrialist’s wife can return to Paris together the next day. He wakes up in the morning and she is gone. He finds her in the casino, gambling. He asks her to come, she refuses. She tells him to choose a number. He does. it loses. She turns to him: “Get away from me! You are bad luck.”
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He leaves the casino, a shot from the casino doorway, as he slowly walks out and towards the sidewalk. She runs out, the music strikes up, she is in his arms, and the movie is over. ****, take a girl. What a shame! I saw it by myself, and not with a girl. One day, I’ll see it again, and the two of us can walk out into the warm summer air together, and get ice cream on College street.
