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A heavy influence on major recent Hollywood musicals such as La La Land, Barbie, and even, perhaps most blatantly, Joker: Folie à Deux, Jacques Demy’s musical masterpiece The Umbrellas of Cherbourg has been restored in 4K for its 60th anniversary. Starring Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo with music by Michel Legrand, the restoration will now roll out at NYC’s Film Forum starting on December 6 and at LA’s Laemmle Royal a week later, followed by a larger release.

Here’s the synopsis: “An angelically beautiful Catherine Deneuve was launched to stardom by this dazzling musical heart-tugger from Jacques Demy. She plays an umbrella-shop owner’s delicate daughter, glowing with first love for a handsome garage mechanic, played by Nino Castelnuovo. When the boy is shipped off to fight in Algeria, the two lovers must grow up quickly. Exquisitely designed in a kaleidoscope of colors, and told entirely through...

"My love, oh my love." ☂ Janus Films has unveiled the official 4K re-release trailer for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which is getting a US theatrical release starting in early December. Jacques Demy's all-timer musical classic The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (or Les Parapluies de Cherbourg in French) celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, initially opening in France back in 1964. Written and directed by Jacques Demy, with music by Michel Legrand. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo star as two young lovers in the French city of Cherbourg, separated by circumstance. This new 4K restoration also re-premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival earlier this year with a glamorous event and celebration. This is one of the most beautiful films ever made, so vivid and colorful and emotional and evocative. The film was also restored and re-released in 2013, and is already available as a Blu-ray in the Criterion Collection. Even if this isn't...

Stars: ‎ Edwige Fenech, Nino Castelnuovo, Erna Schürer, Solvi Stubing, Amanda, Franco Diogene, Femi Benussi, Lucio Como | Written by Andrea Bianchi, Massimo Felisatti | Directed by Andrea Bianchi

Strip Nude for Your Killer, directed by Andrea Bianchi, is a quintessential giallo film that adheres to the genre’s signature blend of eroticism, graphic violence, and intricate mystery. Originally released in 1975, this film encapsulates the lurid and sensationalist tendencies of giallo cinema, making it both a compelling and controversial entry in the genre.

The narrative revolves around a series of brutal murders targeting employees of a high-fashion modelling agency. The killer, dressed in motorcycle gear, executes victims with a mix of sadistic precision and sexual overtones, a hallmark of giallo films. The story’s structure follows the genre’s typical whodunit format, with a plethora of red herrings and an eventual unmasking of the killer that is both shocking and satisfying.

Bianchi’s...

It has been a big week for beloved musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the 1964 Palme d’Or and went on to international acclaim and five Oscar nominations and served as one of the key inspirations for Damien Chazelle’s La La Land.

The film got a special 60th anniversary Cannes Classics screening Thursday of the exquisitely new restoration at the Agnes Varda Theatre, which is named after the late director and is also wife of late Cherbourg writer-director Jacques Demy. This week also has seen the world premieres of two documentaries related to the film here. On Saturday night at the Buñuel Theatre in the Palais came the premiere of Once Upon a Time: Michel Legrand, an extensive two-hour documentary on the late great composer of Cherbourg and so much more.

Then on Wednesday night, also at the Buñuel, was the unveiling...

The Janus-headed The Facts of Murder looks back to the earlier neorealist docudramas of director, co-writer, and star Pietro Germi, while also presaging the sharply observed satirical outlook of films like Divorce Italian Style and Seduced and Abandoned. In the film, the comedic elements are mostly limited to the broad, almost caricatural handling of bumbling secondary characters. The primary storyline, involving an investigation into two ostensibly related crimes, is handled more like a police procedural along the lines of Jules Dassin’s The Naked City, albeit without that film’s authoritative narration.

The Facts of Murder’s central location is an apartment block. Quickly sketching in a number of characters and their relationships in the aftermath of the opening burglary, the film codes the victim, Commendatore Anzaloni (Ildebrando Santafe), as gay, and it’s suggested that the criminal might’ve been one of his pickups. But the focus of...

Hello, everyone! We’re back with a brand new batch of home media releases, and this week’s assortment is an eclectic group. Code Red is showing some love to The Dead Pit and Arrow Video is keeping busy with their latest Giallo Essentials set and the 2-disc limited edition release of Mill of the Stone Women. Other titles headed home on December 14th include Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Amityville Vampire, Alone in the Woods, The Spanish Chainsaw Massacre, and Chicken’s Blood.

The Dead Pit

Dr. Ramzi (Danny Gochnauer), a deviant who enjoys torturing his patients, is killed by a fellow doctor and buried in the basement of a mental health facility. Twenty years later, the hospital is up and running again and a “Jane Doe” (Cheryl Lawson) arrives at the institute with amnesia. Upon her arrival, a major earthquake rocks the building and unearths the now undead Dr.

Actor best known for playing Guy Foucher in the French musical film classic The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

The actor Nino Castelnuovo, who has died aged 84, starred in one of the indisputable masterpieces of 1960s French cinema: Jacques Demy’s heartbreaking and visually ravishing musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964).

Castelnuovo was tender and compelling as Guy, the handsome mechanic in love with Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve), who works in her mother’s umbrella shop. Their romance is interrupted when Guy is summoned to do his military service in the Algerian war. Immediately after he breaks this news to Geneviève, the tearful couple, filmed from the waist up, are borne smoothly along the street as if on a conveyor belt. The scene suggests their trance-like state of shock while hinting at forces beyond their control.

Francesco “Nino” Castelnuovo, the Italian actor who starred in the Palme D’Or winner “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and the Best Picture Oscar winner “The English Patient,” died on Monday after a long battle with illness, his family announced. He was 84.

Born in Lombardy, Castelnuovo took on blue-collar jobs like house painting and mechanic work before traveling to Milan and enrolling in the Piccolo Teatro acting school. In 1957, he got his start as an actor as a mime on a children’s TV show and five years later, got his first taste of Hollywood via Walt Disney in “Escapade in Florence,” a mini-movie that aired on the “Disneyland” TV show starring Disney regulars Annette Funicello and Tommy Kirk.

But Castelnuovo’s big break came in 1964 with “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” a sung-through romantic drama directed by Jacques Demy. Castelnuovo starred alongside Catherine Deneuve as a teenage couple forced apart by the Algerian War.

[This October is "Gialloween" on Daily Dead, as we celebrate the Halloween season by diving into the macabre mysteries, creepy kills, and eccentric characters found in some of our favorite giallo films! Keep checking back on Daily Dead this month for more retrospectives on classic, cult, and altogether unforgettable gialli, and visit our online hub to catch up on all of our Gialloween special features!]

“I’m mad, don’t forget it.”

Rossano Brazzi’s Psychout for Murder feels like an off choice to be writing about for Gialloween. While the marketing of this classic ’60s Italian thriller wants you to expect a piece of giallo, it feels incredibly different and unique in many ways. It can’t be characterized as a murder mystery of gruesome horrors. It’s not suspenseful or shocking even. There is murder, but the way these crimes are executed is much more satisfying and clever than a knife in hand could create. There are no slit throats, no gushes of blood, no one hung bloodied from a ceiling. It’s a psychological thriller of social significance, a symbol of the Swinging Sixties and women’s liberation.

The viewer is greeted with a sensual, sexy opening. A beautiful woman’s features are accentuated as she traces her hand across her lover’s body.

Catherine Deneuve brings an unworldly, subtly erotic charm to Jacques Demy’s rereleased pastel rainbow of a musical

Jacques Demy’s 1964 movie The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is now revived in cinemas as part of the Musicals seasons at London’s BFI Southbank, and it has to be one of the most famous non-Hollywood musicals of all time: entirely sung through, like a light opera of the semi-swinging French 60s.

Catherine Deneuve plays Geneviève, a beautiful 17-year-old demurely working for her mother (Anne Vernon) in a quaint umbrella shop in Cherbourg. She is dating handsome young auto mechanic Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) and they are very happy, but she is devastated when Guy is called up for military service in Algeria, and even more upset when he stops writing to her. Meanwhile, her mother has serious money worries and is steering poor, bewildered Geneviève into smiling on the wealthy young man, Roland...

As the 1970s wore on and audiences began to tire of the tried and tested giallo formula popularized by the thrillers of Argento, Fulci and their contemporaries, filmmakers sought to reinvigorate the ailing movement by injecting elements from other genres. Some took inspiration from the then-burgeoning crime thriller movement, with tales of organised crime and corrupt police officials... while others decided to sex things up by crossing serial killer thrills with salacious softcore antics.

A spate of highly sexualized murders is rocking a prestigious Milanese fashion house. Ambitious photographer Magda and her on-off boyfriend, love rat Carlo, team up to crack the case. But, with t...

As the month of March continues to roll onwards, that means we have a brand new batch of Blu-rays and DVDs to look forward to this week, including a double dose of classic terrors from Scream Factory: The Witches (1966) and The Deadly Mantis. Arrow Video has put together an extensive Special Edition release for Strip Nude for Your Killer, and the indie horror film The Final Wish, featuring Lin Shaye, arrives on Tuesday as well.

Other March 19th home entertainment releases include Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Russian Bride, The Devil’s Restaurant, Crone Wood, and a Spiders triple feature set.

The Deadly Mantis

What’s worse than a horde of locusts? A gigantic man-eating praying mantis, released from a million years of deep, frozen sleep and ready to claw its way to world domination! This menacing insect kills everything in its path while scientists and military men work feverishly to stop it.

Exciting new for fans of 70s Italian horror films. Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975) will b available on Blu-ray March 19th From Arrow Video

As the 1970s wore on and audiences began to tire of the tried and tested giallo formula popularized by the thrillers of Argento, Fulci and their contemporaries, filmmakers sought to reinvigorate the ailing movement by injecting elements from other genres. Some took inspiration from the then-burgeoning crime thriller movement, with tales of organised crime and corrupt police officials… while others decided to sex things up by crossing serial killer thrills with salacious softcore antics.

A spate of highly sexualized murders is rocking a prestigious Milanese fashion house. Ambitious photographer Magda and her on-off boyfriend, love rat Carlo, team up to crack the case. But, with the motorcycle helmet-wearing killer clearing bearing a grudge against the agency s employees, it s surely only a matter of time...

Michel Legrand, who died in Paris Saturday at the age of 86, was among the most renowned film composers and songwriters of our time. He won three Oscars and five Grammys, and many of his songs have entered the pantheon as among the greatest of the 20th century. Here are 10 great film music moments from the career of this French genius:

1. “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (1964). The close collaboration of Legrand and filmmaker Jacques Demy produced this stunning, all-sung romantic drama about a star-crossed couple. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and ultimately earned five Oscar nominations (three of them for the score). “I Will Wait for You” was the biggest song hit that emerged and quickly became a standard:

2. “The Young Girls of Rochefort” (1967). Legrand and Demy reunited for this splashy, colorful musical that added Americans Gene Kelly and George Chakiris to the usual French cast. The tuneful score...

Luchino Visconti’s national epic looks and plays better than ever. A Southern family relocates to Milan, and each of the sons reacts differently to life in the big city. It’s one of Italy’s most emotional film experiences.

Rocco and His Brothers

Blu-ray

Milestone Cinematheque

1960 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 177 m. / Rocco e i suoi fratelli / Street Date July 10, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Katina Paxinou, Alessandra Panaro, Spiros Focás, Max Cartier, Claudia Cardinale, Nino Castelnuovo, Enzo Fiermonte, Suzy Delair, Paolo Stoppa.

Cinematography: Giuseppe Rotunno

Film Editor: Mario Serandrei

Production Designer: Mario Garbuglia

Original Music: Nino Rota

Written by Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa and Enrico Medioli

Produced by Giuseppe Bordogni, Goffredo Lombardo

Directed by Luchino Visconti

By 1960 Roberto Rossellini was almost finished with big screen feature work, but Italy’s other neorealist pioneer Luchino Visconti was just getting started on a series of masterpieces.

Jacques Demy’s international breakthrough musical gives us Catherine Deneuve and wall-to-wall Michel Legrand pop-jazz — it’s a different animal than La La Land but they’re being compared anyway. The story of a romance without a happily-ever-after is doggedly naturalistic, despite visuals as bright and buoyant as an old MGM show.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 716

1964 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Les parapluies de Cherbourg / Street Date April 11, 2017 / 39.95

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Marc Michel, Ellen Farner, Mireille Perrey, Jean Champion.

Cinematography: Jean Rabier

Production design:Bernard Evein

Film Editors: Anne-Marie Cotret, Monique Teisseire

Original Music: Michel Legrand

Produced by Mag Bodard

Written and Directed by Jacques Demy

What with all the hubbub about last year’s Oscar favorite La La Land, I wonder if Hollywood will be trotting out more retro-nostalgia, ‘let’s put on a show’ musical fantasy fare.

Taking a look at the French director’s fascinating filmography.

One of the biggest films of 2016, La La Land, owes a thing or two to French director Jacques Demy. The bright, colorful musical visually mirrors Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), and director Damien Chazelle was able to capture something of the melancholic sweetness of Demy’s musicals. Demy is not one of the most famous French directors, however his films have a specific charm and intelligence that no other filmmaker could match. The way he blended Hollywood style with French culture was unlike any other filmmaker at the time.

Demy began his career in 1960s France, during the time of the “Nouvelle Vague” or French New Wave. This was the time of films such as Breathless, Jules and Jim, The 400 Blows, and Le Beau Serge. However, Demy lies a little bit outside of this group of filmmakers, and...

Four new movies are coming to the Criterion Collection this April: Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Rumble Fish,” Wim Wenders’ “Buena Vista Social Club” and George Stevens’ “Woman of the Year.” In addition, two musicals directed by Jacques Demy already in the Collection are receiving new standalone editions: “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “The Young Girls of Rochefort.” More information below.

Read More: The Criterion Collection’s 2017 Lineup: What Movies Are Being Added This Year?

“Tampopo”

“The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges, our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café...

The Hollywood Reporter went unusually poetic when reviewing The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, saying the film was "as fresh as spring rain, as lyrical as a budding tree." But Cannes' 1964 Palme d'Or-winning musical had that effect on people.

Jacques Demy's romantic tragedy about a young girl (Catherine Deneuve, then 20) who falls in love with an equally young auto mechanic (Nino Castelnuovo) left audiences weeping, garnered four Oscar nominations and was said to be French President Charles de Gaulle's favorite film.

Part of the movie's allure is that every line of dialogue is sung recitative-style as in opera. Demy described...

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Written and directed by Jacques Demy

France, 1964

Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Busby Berkeley, Vincente Minnelli, Arthur Freed: names synonymous with the movie musical. Missing from this standard list is a key contributor to the form, the French director Jacques Demy. Perhaps part of the reason for his widespread unfamiliarity, even to those who adore the genre, is that Demy only directed a handful of musicals in his entire career. It’s also likely that the musical is simply thought of as an American type of movie, and therefore, “foreign” practitioners don’t quite warrant similar attention. In either case, Demy did amplify the genre with at least two major works, one of them the recipient of the Palme d’Or at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which also received four Academy Award nominations (at least some American love there), is not just an exceptional musical,...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: July 22, 2014

Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $124.95

Studio: Criterion

French director Jacques Demy launched his glorious feature filmmaking career in the Sixties, a decade of astonishing invention in his national cinema. He stood out from the crowd of his fellow New Wavers, however, by filtering his self-conscious formalism through deeply emotional storytelling. Fate and coincidence, doomed love, and storybook romance surface throughout his films, many of which are further united by the intersecting lives of characters who either appear or are referenced across titles.

Six of Demy’s films are collected in The Essential Jacques Demy. Ranging from musical to melodrama to fantasia, all are triumphs of visual and sound design, camera work, and music, and they are galvanized by the great stars of French cinema at their centers, including Anouk Aimée (8 1/2), Catherine Deneuve (Belle de Jour), and Jeanne Moreau (Jules and Jim).

The six works here, made...

Fifty years ago today, the world fell in love with Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo in "The Umbreallas Of Cherbourg." One of the best musicals of all time, and one of Jacques Demy's finest films, the sweeping tale packs romance, war, drama and music — oh, the music — into an unforgettable 90 minutes that are very much treasured by fans today. So, to get you back into the mood, we've got some treats below, kicking off with a six-minute look at the film's restoration. It's a fascinating peek into the process to bring the vibrant film back to life — now available in a recently released Blu-ray anniversary edition abroad, though there doesn't seem to be a U.S. counterpart yet — with the legendary filmmaker and wife of Demy, Agnes Varda, among the participants. It's well worth a look. After that we have a handful of clips from the movie including the finale.

Shower curtains as film artwork: From Bette Davis and Joan Crawford to Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie (image: Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’ shower curtain) Alt Film Guide mostly discusses film. This post, however, is about shower curtains. Now, don’t panic. Earlier today, December 20, 2013, the website Dangerous Minds posted a link to ebay listings of shower curtains designed by New York City-based artist Glen Hanson. Those aren’t your average colorful shower curtains; instead, they’re colorful cinematic (or TV-themed) shower curtains. Featured are Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Divine in John Waters’ Pink Flamingos, and a ’60s version of Cher (who did star opposite Sonny Bono in William Friedkin’s 1967 flick Good Times). The Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? shower curtain has already been sold, but Hanson...

Musicals have been tap dancing their way into moviegoers' hearts since the invention of cinema sound itself. From Oliver! to Singin' in the Rain, here are the Guardian and Observer critics' picks of the 10 best

• Top 10 documentaries

• Top 10 movie adaptations

• Top 10 animated movies

• Top 10 silent movies

• Top 10 sports movies

• Top 10 film noir

• More Guardian and Observer critics' top 10s

10. Oliver!

Historically, the British musical has been intertwined with British music, drawing on music hall in the 1940s and the pop charts in the 50s – low-budget films of provincial interest and nothing to trouble the bosses at MGM. In the late 60s, however, the genre enjoyed a brief, high-profile heyday, and between Tommy Steele in Half a Sixpence (1967) and Richard Attenborough's star-studded Oh! What A Lovely War (1969) came the biggest of them all: Oliver! (1968), Carol Reed's adaptation of Lionel Bart's 1960 stage hit and the recipient of six Academy awards.

Catherine Deneuve: Style, beauty, and talent on TCM tonight A day to rejoice on Turner Classic Movies: Catherine Deneuve, one of the few true Living Film Legends, is TCM’s "Summer Under the Stars" star today, August 12, 2013. Catherine Deneuve is not only one of the most beautiful film actresses ever, she’s also one of the very best. In fact, the more mature her looks, the more fascinating she has become. Though, admittedly, Deneuve has always been great to look at, and she has been a mesmerizing screen presence since at least the early ’80s. ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’: One of the greatest movie musicals ever Right now, TCM is showing one of the greatest movie musicals ever made, Jacques Demy’s Palme d’Or winner The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), in which a very blonde, very young, very pretty, and very dubbed Catherine Deneuve (singing voice by Danielle Licari...

Camille 2000

Review by Pete of Mondo Squallido

Stars: Daniéle Gaubert, Nino Castelnuovo, Eleonora Rossi Drago, Roberto Biasco, Massimo Serato | Written by Michael DeForrest | Directed by Radley Metzger

Here in the UK another big moment in cult cinema history has fallen upon us. A trio of Radley Metzger’s highly influential and well loved erotic classics have finally been released in all their glory and packed full of features from Arrow Video on deluxe Blu-ray and DVD combo packages. The first film chronologically out of the three is Camille 2000 and that is the DVD I will look at first.

Camille 2000 is an adaptation of a French novel called The Lady Of The Camellias, written in 1848 by Alexandre Dumas. The film follows the tragic relationship between a stunningly beautiful, luxurious and premiscuous woman by the name of Marguerite (Gaubert) who meets a rich, handsome and charming man called Armand...

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Directed by Jacques Demy

Written by Jacques Demy

France, 1964

There’s a bloke from Germany that can run the 100-metre dash in 13.6 seconds. He can also run the 200-metre in 31.56 seconds. There’s another lad who can run the 400-metre in 69.56 seconds. He’s also German.

The main concern regarding the two aforementioned tidbits is not the fact that they share common citizenship. No, the point of interest is their running time in the three events.

Although a tad underwhelming at first glance, and a bit unimpressive when compared to Olympic and world records, further context would render their achievements much more admirable.

For you see, they sprinted backwards.

One might ask the inevitable question of ‘why’. Running backwards is a contrived act of difficulty, is largely a gimmick with no substantial improvement to the form, and is generally overlooked as both. But despite all that,...

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Deneuve, 68, will be the recipient of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 39th Chaplin Award. The annual fundraising gala benefiting Lincoln Center programs will be held on Monday, April 2, at the Alice Tully Hall in New York. The evening will include films clips and a party. [Full list of Film Society of Lincoln Center (Fslc) Chaplin Award Honorees.] Catherine Deneuve's career spans more than five decades, from André Hunebelle's Les collégiennes / The Schoolgirls (1957), Jacques-Gérard Cornu's L'homme à femmes / Ladies Man (1960), and Michel Fermaud and Jacques Poitrenaud's Les Portes claquent / The Door Slams 1960) to her latest efforts: Christophe Honoré's Les Biens-aimés / The Beloved, shown at last year's Cannes Film Festival; Thierry Klifa's Les Yeux de sa mère / His Mother's Eyes; and Laurent Tirard's upcoming Astérix et Obélix: Au Service de Sa Majesté / Astérix et Obélix: On Her Majesty's Secret Service, as Cordelia, the Queen of England, opposite frequent co-star Gérard Depardieu and Edouard Baer.

[1] Edgar Wright's been keeping very busy over the past couple of years, what with exec producing Attack the Block and Sightseers, programming for the New Beverly Cinema [2], writing The Adventures of Tintin, and whatnot. But none of those quite qualify as a follow-up to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and we're still waiting to hear what his next big endeavor will be. The filmmaker has a few different prospects at this point, including the Ant-Man adaptation [3] for Marvel, the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost project The World's End [4], and the mysterious actioner Baby Driver [5] -- and now we might be able to add "unnamed musical that may or may not be like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" to the mix as well. During a recent screening of Cherbourg for his The Wright Stuff program at The New Beverly, Wright revealed that he'd been working on a musical. It's not clear whether...

Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases to Blu-Ray Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Black Moon: The Criterion Collection (1975)

Directed by: Louis Malle

Starring: Cathryn Harrison, Therese Giehse

Criterion.com Synopsis: 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 post-apocalyptic world of shifting identities and talking animals. It is one of Malle’s most experimental films and a cinematic daydream like no other.

Camille 2000: Extended Version (1969)

Directed by: Radley Metzger

Starring: Daniel Gaubert, Nino Castelnuovo

IMDb.com Synopsis: Marguerite, a beautiful woman of affairs, falls for the young and promising Armand,...

Hot on the heels of their awesome release of The Lickerish Quartet, Cult Epics have announced some cool new details for their imminent release of another Radley Metzger classic, Camille 2000.Cult Epics have managed to secure a never before seen recut of the film by Metzger and will be releasing it for the first time in a high definition transfer on both Blu-ray and DVD. Camille 2000 (Extended Version) Directed by: Radley Metzger Stars: Daniele Gaubert, Nino Castelnuovo, Eleonora Rossi Drago A child of the sixties sexual revolution, beautiful, sensuous Marguerite (Daniel Gaubert) is addicted to sex and money. She is kept by a wealthy man, has a string of young lovers and hosts wild orgies in her luxurious villa. When she falls in love...

Jacques Demy, 1964

Against a sumptuous backdrop of jewel-coloured houses filled with candy-striped rooms, two of the most enchanting young leads ever captured on celluloid – Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo – fall passionately in love. From the off, Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece, in which every line is sung, impresses as a super-stylish paean to the MGM musicals, complete with a swinging score by Michel Legrand and bustling street scenes choreographed with the minute precision and contagious energy of Gene Kelly's finest work.

But if 50s America was the land of the happy ever after, Demy's film marks very different, distinctly European territory, as a call-up to the Algerian war for Castelnuovo leaves his newly pregnant lover bereft. Gradually the fairytale withers, and yet the music carries on. The film is transformed into something entirely unique – a musical as bright and beautiful as any you'll ever see, which swiftly becomes a sad...