Les idoles. 1968. France. Written and directed by Marc’O. With Bulle Ogier, Pierre Clémenti, Jean-Pierre Kalfou, Valérie Lagrange, Michèle Moretti. DCP. In French; English subtitles. Courtesy Luna Park Films. 105 min.
Pierre Clémenti began his performing career on stage, quickly joining a troupe led by Marc’O, a polymathic figure who produced Isidore Isou’s Lettrist film Venom and Eternity (1951) and originated the story behind Jacques Rivette’s L’Amour fou (1969). Les idoles, his riotous send-up of yéyé show business, was first presented as a live production in which, supposedly, anyone riding into the venue on a motorcycle got in free. Clémenti shines as a dandy rock‘n’roller opposite Bulle Ogier’s wide-eyed chanteuse and a psychedelic Jean-Pierre Kalfon, who all team up to pull back the curtain on the zombified celebrity machine behind their stardom. Chock-full of exuberant musical numbers and costuming, this avant-pop fantasy was edited by Jean Eustache, whose liberal storyline jumps hint at the cultural alienation contemporaneously theorized by Guy Debord. Released in May 1968 and quickly withdrawn from theaters in solidarity with the protest movement, Les idoles was rarely screened in the period. It is presented here in a digital preservation premiere.