FIAF Presents Pascal Greggory CinéSalon Series And Special Performance Honoring Patrice Chéreau
By: A.A. Cristi Oct. 04, 2018
This fall the French Institute Alliance Française presents Pascal Greggory: Unsung Eros, a CinéSalon series celebrating the work and film career of acclaimed actor Pascal Greggory from November 6 to December 18.
A three-time César nominee, Greggory has been a beacon in French cinema and theater for more than five decades, breathing life into a rich collection of characters from a tormented brother of a trio of brilliant sisters in The Brontë Sisters to a lovelorn suitor in Pauline at the Beach to a husband watching his marriage disintegrate in Gabrielle. These films will all be screened alongside rare gems including Andrzej Zulawski's Fidelite, Jacques Doillon's Three-Way Marriage, and Éric Rohmer's The Tree, the Mayor, and the Mediatheque.
In conjunction with the film series, the actor will present a special one-night live performance, Those who love me (Ceux qui m'aiment), on Wednesday, November 7. This play is dedicated to Greggory's mentor and former partner, Patrice Chéreau, who died in 2013, and quilts together intimate letters between the two, as well as Chéreau's unpublished texts, including never before seen notes about his theater and film direction.
"We're delighted to spotlight the work of Pascal Greggory, who has been a vital part of France's cultural and intellectual fabric for so long," said FIAF Film Curator Delphine Selles-Alverez, who organized the series in collaboration with Greggory. "While his face will be recognizable to many people, this series brings attention to the remarkable depth and multiple layers that Pascal brings to all of his roles, which have inspired generations of filmmakers."
Greggory stated: "Having spent much time in New York, I'm grateful for this survey of my work in film, and it's particularly meaningful to be able to share the intimate yet universal words of Patrice Chéreau in Ceux qui m'aiment with New York audiences, who were so supportive and enthusiastic of his work."
Though he has worked with a variety of celebrated French filmmakers, Greggory is particularly identified for his collaborations with Éric Rohmer and Patrice Chéreau, both of whom will be well-represented in Pascal Greggory: Unsung Eros. Rohmer first directed Greggory in the theater, setting forth a collaboration that would beget celebrated works such as Pauline at the Beach and The Tree, the Mayor, and the Mediatheque, both of which will be screened at FIAF on November 6.
Greggory's artistic partnership with Chéreau also bridged theater and cinema, bringing about seminal staged productions including Hamlet and In the Loneliness of the Cotton Fields as well as cinematic masterpieces including Those Who Leave Me Can Take the Train and Gabrielle, which will also be presented as part of the series.
Pascal Greggory: Unsung Eros will be presented in collaboration with Anthology Film Archives, which will release Greggory's most recent film, 9 Fingers, by F.J. Ossang in November. FIAF is also grateful to French director Marie Losier for her collaboration on this series.
A chronological listing of the series events follows.
Pauline at the Beach (Pauline à la plage)
November 6 at 4pm
Dir. Éric Rohmer, 1983, 95 min. 35mm
With Amanda Langlet, Arielle Dombasle, Pascal Greggory
In French with English subtitles
One of Éric Rohmer's best-loved films, this understatedly profound seaside tale finds 15-year-old Pauline pulled into the romantic games and deceits of her adult friends during a brief stay on the Norman coast. Rohmer mines every mix-up of bedroom farce in examining different notions of love while touting the praises of youthful candor. Starring Pascal Greggory in one of his most memorable roles as Pierre, the distinguished and hopeless lover of Pauline's more experienced cousin Marion, Pauline at the Beach is a delightful opportunity to see Rohmer's favorite performers deliver his intellectually sparkling dialogue in their bathing suits.
The Tree, the Mayor, and the Mediatheque (L'Arbre, le maire et la médiathèque)
Post screening Q&A with Pascal Greggory
November 6 at 7:30pm
Dir. Éric Rohmer, 1993, 105 min. DCP
With Pascal Greggory, Arielle Dombasle, Fabrice Luchini
In French with English subtitles
Greggory stars in one of his longtime collaborator Éric Rohmer's funniest, most idiosyncratic films, as an upper-crust Paris transplant to a rural area seeking reelection to a tiny village's city hall by building a hyper-modern media center. When a local teacher (played with mordant wit by Fabrice Lucchini) mounts a campaign to resist the mayor's project and save a centenarian willow, a local war of words is unleashed. Rohmer delights in the opportunity to lampoon the urban and cultural discourse of the era, resulting in his only overtly political film and a passionate but never-stilted ecological statement.
Those who love me (Ceux qui m'aiment)
Live performance based on the letters and texts of Patrice Chéreau
November 7 at 7pm
Pascal Greggory, Performer
Anne Louise Trividic, Dramaturg
Jean-Pierre Pancrazi, Stage director
Dominique Bruguière, Lighting engineer
"Patrice Chéreau is a part of my life," writes Pascal Greggory. "He brought me seriousness, made me learn the effort of working, opened the doors of intelligence, and the secret worlds of the great creators to me. ... I would like this reading to be both intimate and universal. From letters that he wrote to me (we wrote a lot of letters) to his texts on his stage direction, his theatrical and cinematic thoughts. That is what I want to the audience to discover."
This special one-night performance showcases Pascal Greggory - muse, collaborator, and partner to the great French director Patrice Chéreau - as he guides the audience through the personal writings and boundless creativity of one of the world's great theatrical minds. Poignant and illuminating, this production was created by Greggory with Chéreau's longtime colleagues: Anne-Louise Trividic, a beloved and respected scriptwriter; Dominique Bruguière, his former lighting engineer; and Thierry Thieu Niang, who also worked on several of his creations.
View more performance info here.
Ceux qui m'aiment is supported by the Laura Pels Foundation for Theater.
The Brontë Sisters (Les sœurs Brontë)
November 13 at 4pm
Dir. André Téchiné, 1979, 120 min, DCP
With Isabelle Adjani, Marie-France Pisier, Isabelle Huppert, and Pascal Greggory
In French with English subtitles
Pascal Greggory makes his film debut in this marvelously atmospheric literary biopic of the Brontë siblings as the tragic figure Branwell Brontë, the drug-addicted brother to the illustrious sisters played by a power trio of Isabelle Huppert, Isabelle Adjani, and Marie-France Pisier. Director André Téchiné showcases admirable restraint as he focuses on all four siblings' artistic struggles while conveying a bone-chilling sense of the windswept landscape that inspired their work. The great French critic and theorist Roland Barthes makes his only on-screen appearance as the Brontës' contemporary, novelist William Makepeace Thackeray.
Fidelity (La fidélité)
November 13 at 7:30pm
Dir. Andrzej Zulawski, 2000, 105 min, 35mm
With Sophie Marceau, Pascal Greggory, Guillaume Canet
In French with English subtitles
Andrzej Zulawski's contemporary adaptation of Madame de La Fayette's classic novel La Princesse de Clèves is as wild as it is heartfelt, mixing action sequences, a timely critique of tabloid media, and a love story inspired by the end of the director's own relationship with the film's leading lady Sophie Marceau. Marceau is radiant as Clélia, a photographer who accepts a lucrative job at a tabloid to help her support her ailing mother, while Pascal Greggory is brilliantly cast against type as the kind but bumbling publisher who seduces her. Their relationship seems perfect until Clelia meets young paparazzo Némo, played by the dashing Guillaume Canet.
Raja
November 20 at 4pm and 7:30pm
Dir. Jacques Doillon, 2003, 112 min, 35mm
With Pascal Greggory, Najat Benssallem, Ilham Abdelwahed
In French and Arabic with English subtitles
A wealthy middle-aged Frenchman in Morocco initiates a cat-and-mouse game with Raja, a 19-year-old local woman who works in his garden. Director Jacques Doillon deftly navigates the complex terrain between the two, finding both the comedy and sensuality in the relationship while simultaneously critiquing the problematic nature of such an unbalanced power dynamic. Pascal Greggory delivers a fine performance as the rich foreigner Frédéric, who transitions from a playful idler to an obsessed would-be lover. Najat Benssallem makes a remarkable film debut as the magnetic, young Raja.
Gabrielle
November 27 at 4pm and 7:30pm
Dir. Patrice Chéreau, 2005, 90 min, 35mm
With Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory, Claudia Coli
In French with English subtitles
Writer-director Patrice Chéreau pairs Pascal Greggory and Isabelle Huppert as a bourgeois couple, united through a marriage of convenience in Belle Époque Paris. Based on a Joseph Conrad short story, Gabrielle follows the dissolution of the relationship as Jean Harvey (Greggory) returns to his mansion to find a letter from his wife, Gabrielle, announcing that she is leaving to be with her lover. Chéreau shifts between color and black and white and across time periods, delivering a masterful period piece, nominated for six Césars, that is both formally inventive and emotionally perceptive.
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train
(Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train)
December 4 at 4pm AND 7:30pm
Dir. Patrice Chéreau, 1998, 122 min, 35mm
With Pascal Greggory, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Jean-Louis Trintignant
In French with English subtitles
Patrice Chéreau proves his reputation as a master director of actors in this landmark of 90s French cinema. He assembles a great cast as the former friends and lovers of a recently deceased painter en route to his funeral in Limoges. Shooting in the cramped conditions of an actual moving train, Chéreau depicts long-simmering resentments and rivalries among the late man's survivors. In this claustrophobic environment, couples form and come apart as a portrait of the deceased emerges as an evasive, dangerously charming manipulator. Greggory shines as a journalist who watches his boyfriend fall in love with a mysterious young man.
The Three-Way Wedding (Le Mariage à trois)
December 18 at 4pm and 7:30pm
Dir. Jacques Doillon, 2010, 104 min, 35mm
Pascal Greggory, Julie Depardieu, Louis Garrel, Agathe Bonitzer
In French with English subtitles
A visit of actors to the country home of the reclusive playwright Auguste turns into an emotional showdown when it is revealed that Auguste's ex-wife and muse Harriet plans to marry Théo, her young costar of Auguste's next play. Director Jacques Doillon, a veteran chronicler of the ebb and flow of romance, blurs the line between farce and intense drama, infusing both with an erotic charge. Julie Depardieu and Louis Garrel deliver virtuoso performances as Harriet and Théo, but Pascal Greggory is the main attraction, playing Auguste with an endearing, world-weary tenderness.
About Pascal Greggory
Born in Paris in 1953, Pascal Greggory trained as an actor at the Cours Périmony and began performing in the theater. He made his screen debut in the 1975 production of Docteur Françoise Gailland starring Annie Girardot. His breakthrough came four years later in André Téchiné's biopic Les soeurs Brontë, portraying the sole brother of the famous literary trio opposite Isabelle Adjani and Isabelle Huppert. This success was followed by several appearances in works by Nouvelle Vague director Éric Rohmer, including Catherine de Heilbronn (1982) and Pauline à la Plage (1983).
In 1987, Greggory met filmmaker Patrice Chéreau, who became an artistic mentor for the actor. The two worked together on numerous theater and film productions including La reine Margot (1994), Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train (1998) and Gabrielle (2005). In 2007, Greggory played the impresario Louis Barrier in La Vie en rose, a film biography of legendary chanson singer Edith Piaf. This performance garnered him his third César nomination. His recent filmography includes Double Lives directed by Olivier Assayas, Ni Dieux, ni maîtres by Eric Cherrière, L'heure de la sortie by Se?bastien Marnier, Lost in Alro Setar by Deng XiaoXi, and 9 Fingers by F.J. Ossang.
About CinéSalon
In the spirit of the French ciné-clubs and literary salons, CinéSalon pairs engaging French films with social post-screening receptions. Screenings are held on Tuesdays at 4 pm and 7:30 pm in Florence Gould Hall for all of the films. Complementary wine and beer are served following each screening.
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