Les roses de la vie. 1962. France. Written and directed by Paul Vecchiali. With Jean Eustache, Germaine de France, Michèle Marinie. DCP. In French; English subtitles. 20 min.
François Truffaut said of Paul Vecchiali in his early days that he was "the only true heir of Jean Renoir." The first short film of this director, who was to become a singular figure of independent French cinema, follows the path of an elderly woman towards her memories and beyond. Attentive, affectionate and sometimes cruel, Vecchiali's camera invents its own expressive language. Courtesy FRL Productions
Une aussi longue absence (The Long Absence). 1961. France. Directed by Henri Colpi. Screenplay by Colpi, Marguerite Duras, Gérard Jarlot. With Alida Valli, Georges Wilson, Charles Blavette. DCP. In French; English subtitles. 94 min.
Henri Colpi was already a noted film editor, particularly in his collaborations with Alain Resnais and, occasionally, Agnès Varda. He directed his first, and most memorable, feature film in 1961, based on a script cowritten by Marguerite Duras. The Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival crowned this stirring meditation on memory, and the way in which experiences both real or imagined, and their emotional tenor, shape or reshape human relationships. Digital restoration courtesy Cinématographique Lyre