Bay of Angels
1963 ‘La Baie des anges’ Directed by Jacques Demy
Synopsis
Jean Fournier (Claude Mann) is a young bank employee who is encouraged by his friend Caron to take an interest in gambling. After winning money in a game of roulette, he decides to vacation in Nice, where he falls in love with Jackie (Jeanne Moreau), divorced and mother to a child she rarely visits. Though Jackie also enjoys Jean's company, she constantly warns him that her passion for gambling will always be greater. Jean becomes jealous of not having all of her attention and has mixed feelings about gambling, yet he too is to some extend seduced by this new life style that involves taking risks. Despite Jackie's cool façade and alleged control over her choices - she claims she is unattached to the money itself, but rather the thrill of the game, and doesn't mind going from rich to poor in a matter of seconds -, she soon begins to reveal her vulnerability and the emptiness she often feels as result of her addiction.
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Cinema, TV and literature are full of stories of dysfunctional addicts and the hapless, devoted women who love them. This is an interesting early counter-example, with Jeanne Moreau as Jackie, a compelling female compulsive gambler with Marilyn-platinum hair and feathered negligee, who has far greater interest in the spin of the roulette wheel than in seducing men.
I recently saw Jacques Demy called "one of the great directors of women" ... perhaps a slightly patronising statement to 21st century eyes, but his female characters do strike an unusual and fascinating balance between being both luminous, and dysfunctionally, occasionally mundanely human. Jackie's first appearance is being barred from a casino for cheating: she's no angel but nor is she the villain…
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A splendid restored B&W print and dolbyized soundtrack of this fine Demy film were definitely worth the wait. Claude Mann is superb as the zipped up bourgeois bank clerk who catches the gambling bug from a femme fatale (one of Jeanne Moreau's signature roles). The film is one of the great depictions of what gambling addiction is all about...something I'm very aware of personally. Even in B&W, the Côte d'Azure scenery sparkles and the film is just as relevant today as it was in 1963.
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Cinema, TV and literature are full of stories of dysfunctional addicts and the hapless, devoted women who love them. This is an interesting early counter-example, with Jeanne Moreau as Jackie, a compelling female compulsive gambler with Marilyn-platinum hair and feathered negligee, who has far greater interest in the spin of the roulette wheel than in seducing men.
I recently saw Jacques Demy called "one of the great directors of women" ... perhaps a slightly patronising statement to 21st century eyes, but his female characters do strike an unusual and fascinating balance between being both luminous, and dysfunctionally, occasionally mundanely human. Jackie's first appearance is being barred from a casino for cheating: she's no angel but nor is she the villain…