Director
Alain Resnais
Composer
Stephen Sondheim
Cast
Jean-Paul Belmondo, François Périer, Anny Duperey
Edition 2023
120'
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1974
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Crime, Biography
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Dialogue:
French, English
Stavisky is a cinematic exploration of the enigmatic life and exploits of Alexandre Stavisky, portrayed with charm and intrigue by Jean-Paul Belmondo. Director Alain Resnais crafts a stylish and melancholic narrative that unravels the mysteries surrounding this historical figure.
Of all the great films by the director of Hiroshima Mon Amour, Last Year at Marienbad, and Providence, this is the most overlooked and underrated. Alain Resnais presents a cool, elegant evocation of the infamous Stavisky affair, with Jean-Paul Belmondo as the dashing, theater-loving high society swindler who, in the 1930s, caused feverish speculation through his financial manipulations, shaking the corrupt Third Republic to its core. At times there is a morbidly romantic aura to this historical reconstruction. Resnais' camera moves with precise geometric motions, focusing on the emblems and status symbols of an era of economic and political bankruptcy, which the subplot involving Trotsky's exile also alludes to. The labyrinthine screenplay is by Jorge Semprun, and the melancholic score comes from Broadway great Stephen Sondheim.
"It’s rather as if the gorgeous décor and clothes of Marienbad had been given a shot of adrenaline with this compelling story. Belmondo personifies the film: he dresses well, with a love of clothes; he acts in a broad, very manly way, seductive yet shy, too; and we can credit that lurking pressure, the death wish." - "Have you seen...?", David Thomson.
Image gallery
Credits
Directors
Alain Resnais
Composers
Stephen Sondheim
Cast
Jean-Paul Belmondo, François Périer, Anny Duperey
Scenario
Jorge Semprún
Director of Photography
Sacha Vierny
Editors
Albert Jurgenson
Producers
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Production studios
Cerito Films
More info
Dialogue
French, English
Countries of production
Italy, France
Year
1974
Filmography
Alain Resnais
L'aventure de Guy (short, 1936), Schéma d'une identification (short, 1946), Ouvert pour cause d'inventaire (1946), Visite à Oscar Dominguez (short, 1947), Visite à Lucien Coutaud (short, 1947), Visite à Hans Hartung (short, 1947), Visite à Félix Labisse (short, 1947), Visite à César Doméla (short, 1947), Portrait d'Henri Goetz (short, 1947), Le last Nestlé (short, 1947), L'alcool tue (short, 1947), Journée naturelle (short, 1947), Van Gogh (short, 1948), Malfray (short, 1948), Les Jardins de Paris (short, 1948), Châteaux de France (short, 1948), Gaugain (short, 1949), Pictura (1951), Guernica (1951), Statues also Die (short, 1953), Night and Fog (short, 1956), All the Memory in the World (short, 1956), Le mystère de l'atelier quince (short, 1957), The Song of Styrene (short, 1958), Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), Last Year at Marienbad (1961), Muriel (1963), The War Is Over (1966), Far from Vietnam (1967), I Love You, I Love You (1968), Cinétracts (1968), The Year 01 (1973), Stavisky (1974), Providence (1977), My American Uncle (1980), Life Is a Bed of Roses (1983), Love Unto Death (1984), Mélo (1986), I Want to Go Home (1989), Lest We Forget (1991), No Smoking (1993), Same Old Song (1997), Not on the Lips (2003), Private Fears in Public Places (2006), Wild Grass (2009), You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet (2012), Life of Riley (2014)
