Jacques Demy

Jacques Demy

Birth : 1931-06-05, Pontchâteau, Loire-Atlantique, France

Death : 1990-10-27

History

Jacques Demy (June 5, 1931 - October 27, 1990) was a French director and screenwriter. He appeared in the wake of the French New Wave. His films are well known for their sumptuous look, drawing on Hollywood musicals, fairy tales, jazz, and opera.

Profile

Jacques Demy
Jacques Demy

Movies

Hervé Guibert, la mort propagande
From this "inexorable disease", Hervé Guibert did not recover. The miracle he had so much hoped for did not happen. But, before his death in 1991, three years after learning of his HIV-positive status, he engraved in his literary and photographic work "the places of [his] suffering", "the stations of [his] way of the cross". With his thin body and sunken cheeks, the handsome man with curly hair that he was, the one whose clear gaze radiated from the seaside photos, fought a fierce battle against AIDS. A fight of every moment against the decay of the body, observed and commented with a methodical care in his autobiographical novels, in particular "To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life" (1990) and "The Compassionate Protocol" (1991), and of which he testified on television on the set of "Apostrophes"...
Hommage à Michel Legrand et Jacques Demy au festival Sœurs Jumelles
Self (archive footage)
Jim Morrison: The End
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Paris, Rue Beautreillis, July 3, 1971. The corpse of rock star Jim Morrison is found in a bathtub, in the apartment of his girlfriend Pamela Courson. The chronicle of the last months of the life of the poet, singer and charismatic leader of the American band The Doors, one of the most influential in the history of rock.
Michel Legrand: Sans demi-mesure
Self (archive footage)
This documentary recounts the life of the late composer Michel Legrand, known for his works on Les Parapluies de Cherbourg or Les Demoiselles De Rochefort with the famous director Jacques Demy.
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
An account of the life of actress Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017), a true icon of the New Wave and one of the most idolized French movie stars.
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
Author
Sodankylä Forever
Self
The Midnight Sun Film Festival is held every June in the Finnish village of Sodankylä beyond the arctic circle — where the sun never sets. Founded by Aki and Mika Kaurismäki along with Anssi Mänttäri and Peter von Bagh in 1985, the festival has played host to an international who’s who of directors and each day begins with a two-hour discussion. To mark the festival’s silver anniversary, festival director Peter von Bagh edited together highlights from these dialogues to create an epic four-part choral history of cinema drawn from the anecdotes, insights, and wisdom of his all-star cast: Coppola, Fuller, Forman, Chabrol, Corman, Demy, Kieslowski, Kiarostami, Varda, Oliveira, Erice, Rouch, Gilliam, Jancso — and 64 more. Ranging across innumerable topics (war, censorship, movie stars, formative influences, America, neorealism) these voices, many now passed away, engage in a personal dialogue across the years that’s by turns charming, profound, hilarious and moving.
Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là
Self (archive footage)
Catherine Deneuve couldn’t care less about being a celebrity, but fame made her an icon long ago and she occupies a special place in our imagination. The star is not one to let others get too close, but when she gives you her confidence, she keeps her word. If Deneuve’s career covers a half-century of cinema, it also bears witness to the force of a generation that experienced the deepest transformation of mores. This portrait reflects her entirely. The story of a mystery and an adventure.
Souvenirs and Evocations
Self (archive footage)
A short program in which the participants describe how they fell in love with cinema.
Once Upon a Time... The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Self (archive footage)
Television documentary about the making of Jacques Demy's 1964 film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg".
Quelques veuves de Noirmoutier
Self (archive footage)
A documentary film directed by French Agnès Varda as an extension of the exhibition 'L'île et elle'. The installation 'Les veuves de Noirmoutier' (or 'The Widows of Noirmoutier') had various women filmed by Varda, young and old, who spoke about their widowhood and their residence on the island of Noirmoutier. The film is a montage of these meetings, which are both simple and melancholic.
The World of Jacques Demy
Self (archive footage)
Agnès Varda's documentary portrait of her late husband, Jacques Demy. A companion piece to her Jacquot de Nantes.
The Young Girls Turn 25
Self (archive footage)
Agnes Varda's documentary of the celebrations arising from the 25th anniversary of her husband Jacques Demy's film The Young Girls of Rochefort.
Jacquot
Jacques Demy (uncredited)
Jacquot Demy is a little boy at the end of the thirties. His father owns a garage and his mother is a hairdresser. The whole family lives happily and likes to sing and to go to the movies. Jacquot is fascinated by every kind of show (theatre, cinema, puppets). He buys a camera to shoot his first amateur film... An evocation of French cineast Jacques Demy's childhood and vocation for the cinema and the musicals.
Jacquot
Author
Jacquot Demy is a little boy at the end of the thirties. His father owns a garage and his mother is a hairdresser. The whole family lives happily and likes to sing and to go to the movies. Jacquot is fascinated by every kind of show (theatre, cinema, puppets). He buys a camera to shoot his first amateur film... An evocation of French cineast Jacques Demy's childhood and vocation for the cinema and the musicals.
Turning Table
Writer
On a winter night, the author of "The King and the Mockingbird" is visited by the cartoon characters he created in his studio. Along with a little clown, he screens a selection of his favorite shorts
Turning Table
Director
On a winter night, the author of "The King and the Mockingbird" is visited by the cartoon characters he created in his studio. Along with a little clown, he screens a selection of his favorite shorts
Trois Places pour le 26
Writer
In a charming mixture of fantasy and reality, this film recalls the great musicals of Hollywood's Golden Age. Yves Montand, playing himself, returns to his hometown of Marseilles to appear in an autobiographical musical. Once there, he searches for the barmaid he once loved and also encounters young hopeful Marion, giving her the chance of a lifetime
Trois Places pour le 26
Director
In a charming mixture of fantasy and reality, this film recalls the great musicals of Hollywood's Golden Age. Yves Montand, playing himself, returns to his hometown of Marseilles to appear in an autobiographical musical. Once there, he searches for the barmaid he once loved and also encounters young hopeful Marion, giving her the chance of a lifetime
Parking
Screenplay
Orpheus is a rock star who composes love songs for Eurydice, who designs his album covers. As he wrestles with his additional love for Calaïs, his sound engineer, Orpheus finds that Eurydice had died of a drug overdose, so he descends into the Underworld to try and make a deal with Hades.
Parking
Director
Orpheus is a rock star who composes love songs for Eurydice, who designs his album covers. As he wrestles with his additional love for Calaïs, his sound engineer, Orpheus finds that Eurydice had died of a drug overdose, so he descends into the Underworld to try and make a deal with Hades.
A Room in Town
Screenplay
Set against the backdrop of an increasingly violent strike, a worker falls in love with the middle-class daughter of his landlady.
A Room in Town
Director
Set against the backdrop of an increasingly violent strike, a worker falls in love with the middle-class daughter of his landlady.
Break of Day
Screenplay
A perfect summer divertissement, the very rare Break of Day is based on the quasi-autobiographical novel by Colette, a serene, sometimes joyous meditation in which the novelist puzzles through the state in which she found herself, an older woman, traduced and misused in love, fearing that she would never be wanted again. Instead of obsessing on loss, she insists, one must accept it; at a certain age one must recognize the limits of human relationships and transfer one's attentions to nature.
Break of Day
Director
A perfect summer divertissement, the very rare Break of Day is based on the quasi-autobiographical novel by Colette, a serene, sometimes joyous meditation in which the novelist puzzles through the state in which she found herself, an older woman, traduced and misused in love, fearing that she would never be wanted again. Instead of obsessing on loss, she insists, one must accept it; at a certain age one must recognize the limits of human relationships and transfer one's attentions to nature.
Lady Oscar
Adaptation
Oscar François de Jarjayes was born female, but her father insisted she be raised as a boy as he had no sons. She becomes the captain of the guards at Versailles under King Louis XVI and Marie Antonette. Her privileged, noble life comes under fire as she discovers the hard life of the poor people of France. She is caught up in the French Revolution, and must choose between her loyalty and love.
Lady Oscar
Screenplay
Oscar François de Jarjayes was born female, but her father insisted she be raised as a boy as he had no sons. She becomes the captain of the guards at Versailles under King Louis XVI and Marie Antonette. Her privileged, noble life comes under fire as she discovers the hard life of the poor people of France. She is caught up in the French Revolution, and must choose between her loyalty and love.
Lady Oscar
Director
Oscar François de Jarjayes was born female, but her father insisted she be raised as a boy as he had no sons. She becomes the captain of the guards at Versailles under King Louis XVI and Marie Antonette. Her privileged, noble life comes under fire as she discovers the hard life of the poor people of France. She is caught up in the French Revolution, and must choose between her loyalty and love.
Women Are Naturally Creative: Agnès Varda
Self
A documentary about French film director Agnès Varda on the set of her 1977 film ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN'T. It includes interviews with Varda and the lead actors in the film.
A Slightly Pregnant Man
Writer
Marco Mazzetti, a driving instructor, lives with his wife Irène and their young child. After a series of dizzy spells, he goes to the doctor and discovers that he is four-month pregnant. Marco then becomes internationally famous...
A Slightly Pregnant Man
Director
Marco Mazzetti, a driving instructor, lives with his wife Irène and their young child. After a series of dizzy spells, he goes to the doctor and discovers that he is four-month pregnant. Marco then becomes internationally famous...
The Pied Piper
Writer
Greed, corruption, ignorance, and disease. Midsummer, 1349: the Black Death reaches northern Germany. Minstrels go to Hamelin for the Mayor's daughter's wedding to the Baron's son. He wants her dowry to pay his army while his father taxes the people to build a cathedral he thinks will save his soul. A local apothecary who's a Jew seeks a treatment for the plague; the priests charge him with witchcraft. One of the minstrels, who has soothed the Mayor's daughter with his music, promises to rid the town of rats for the fee. The Mayor agrees, then renigs. In the morning, the plague, the Jew's trial, and the Piper's revenge come at once.
The Pied Piper
Director
Greed, corruption, ignorance, and disease. Midsummer, 1349: the Black Death reaches northern Germany. Minstrels go to Hamelin for the Mayor's daughter's wedding to the Baron's son. He wants her dowry to pay his army while his father taxes the people to build a cathedral he thinks will save his soul. A local apothecary who's a Jew seeks a treatment for the plague; the priests charge him with witchcraft. One of the minstrels, who has soothed the Mayor's daughter with his music, promises to rid the town of rats for the fee. The Mayor agrees, then renigs. In the morning, the plague, the Jew's trial, and the Piper's revenge come at once.
Donkey Skin: Behind the Scenes
Self
A look behind the scenes of Jacques Demy's Donkey Skin (1971).
Donkey Skin
Screenplay
A fairy godmother helps a princess disguise herself so she won't have to marry her father.
Donkey Skin
Director
A fairy godmother helps a princess disguise herself so she won't have to marry her father.
Model Shop
Producer
While trying to raise money to prevent his car from being repossessed, George is attracted to Lola, a Frenchwoman who works in a "model shop", an establishment that rents out beautiful pin-up models to photographers. George spends his last twelve dollars to photograph Lola, and discovers that she is as unhappy as he.
Model Shop
Writer
While trying to raise money to prevent his car from being repossessed, George is attracted to Lola, a Frenchwoman who works in a "model shop", an establishment that rents out beautiful pin-up models to photographers. George spends his last twelve dollars to photograph Lola, and discovers that she is as unhappy as he.
Model Shop
Director
While trying to raise money to prevent his car from being repossessed, George is attracted to Lola, a Frenchwoman who works in a "model shop", an establishment that rents out beautiful pin-up models to photographers. George spends his last twelve dollars to photograph Lola, and discovers that she is as unhappy as he.
The Young Girls of Rochefort
Lyricist
Delphine and Solange are two sisters living in Rochefort. Delphine is a dancing teacher and Solange composes and teaches the piano. Maxence is a poet and a painter. He is doing his military service. Simon owns a music shop, he left Paris one month ago to come back where he fell in love 10 years ago. They are looking for love, looking for each other, without being aware that their ideal partner is very close...
The Young Girls of Rochefort
Writer
Delphine and Solange are two sisters living in Rochefort. Delphine is a dancing teacher and Solange composes and teaches the piano. Maxence is a poet and a painter. He is doing his military service. Simon owns a music shop, he left Paris one month ago to come back where he fell in love 10 years ago. They are looking for love, looking for each other, without being aware that their ideal partner is very close...
The Young Girls of Rochefort
Director
Delphine and Solange are two sisters living in Rochefort. Delphine is a dancing teacher and Solange composes and teaches the piano. Maxence is a poet and a painter. He is doing his military service. Simon owns a music shop, he left Paris one month ago to come back where he fell in love 10 years ago. They are looking for love, looking for each other, without being aware that their ideal partner is very close...
The Birth of Children of Paradise
Self
Documentary about the making of Marcel Carne's 1945 film Children of Paradise (France), interviewing the director, the actors and production designer, as well as other French directors.
La nouvelle vague par elle-même
Self
Made for Cinéastes de notre temps series. In 1964, several French New Wave auteurs discuss the success and crisis of the wave. Featuring Claude Chabrol, François Truffaut, Jacques Rivette, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rozier, Jacques Demy, Agnès Varda, Jean Rouch, and many others.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Screenplay
This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Writer
This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Songs
This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Dialogue
This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Scenario Writer
This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Le client égaré / Le serveur (singing voice)
This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Director
This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
Bay of Angels
Screenplay
A bank clerk is drawn into the risky world of a gorgeous gambling addict.
Bay of Angels
Director
A bank clerk is drawn into the risky world of a gorgeous gambling addict.
La luxure
Screenplay
This short film by Jacques Demy was based on his memories of growing up in Nantes, France. While it was initially made for the omnibus film THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS (as the segment on "Lust"), it has also been distributed and exhibited separately.
The Seven Deadly Sins
Writer
Seven directors each dramatize one of the seven deadly sins in a short film. In "Anger," a domestic argument over a fly in the Sunday soup escalates into nuclear war. In "Sloth," a movie star would rather pay someone to tie his shoe than bend over to do it himself, and he can't be bothered to accept a starlet's sexual favors. In "Gluttony," a peasant family on its way to the funeral of a relative who died from indigestion stops regularly to eat and drink en route, arriving in time to eat some more. In "Greed," a high-class prostitute refunds the price of a cadet's lottery ticket. In "Pride," an unfaithful wife finds reason to reform. And so on through lust and envy.
La luxure
Director
This short film by Jacques Demy was based on his memories of growing up in Nantes, France. While it was initially made for the omnibus film THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS (as the segment on "Lust"), it has also been distributed and exhibited separately.
The Seven Deadly Sins
Director
Seven directors each dramatize one of the seven deadly sins in a short film. In "Anger," a domestic argument over a fly in the Sunday soup escalates into nuclear war. In "Sloth," a movie star would rather pay someone to tie his shoe than bend over to do it himself, and he can't be bothered to accept a starlet's sexual favors. In "Gluttony," a peasant family on its way to the funeral of a relative who died from indigestion stops regularly to eat and drink en route, arriving in time to eat some more. In "Greed," a high-class prostitute refunds the price of a cadet's lottery ticket. In "Pride," an unfaithful wife finds reason to reform. And so on through lust and envy.
Paris Belongs to Us
Tied Woman's friend (uncredited)
A young woman joins a theatrical troupe where she slowly believes that the director is involved with a secret group and that he is in grave danger.
Lola
Screenplay
A bored young man meets with his former girlfriend, now a cabaret dancer and single mother, and soon finds himself falling back in love with her.
Lola
Director
A bored young man meets with his former girlfriend, now a cabaret dancer and single mother, and soon finds himself falling back in love with her.
Ars
Writer
With ghostly eyes looking through the winter landscapes of the plains and villages of Ain, where the sanctified priest the Curé of Ars once lived, Jacques Demy tried to understand this fighter for communal spirituality and his daily torments of mysticism.
Ars
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
With ghostly eyes looking through the winter landscapes of the plains and villages of Ain, where the sanctified priest the Curé of Ars once lived, Jacques Demy tried to understand this fighter for communal spirituality and his daily torments of mysticism.
Ars
Director
With ghostly eyes looking through the winter landscapes of the plains and villages of Ain, where the sanctified priest the Curé of Ars once lived, Jacques Demy tried to understand this fighter for communal spirituality and his daily torments of mysticism.
The 400 Blows
Policeman
For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.
Le Bel Indifférent
(voice)
An adaptation of Jean Cocteau's play of a woman lecturing her indifferent lover.
Le Bel Indifférent
Director
An adaptation of Jean Cocteau's play of a woman lecturing her indifferent lover.
La Mère et l'Enfant
Director
This documentary short offers practical advice for mothers on how to take care of their babies, such as feeding and bathing.
Musée Grévin
Director
A man dreams he is in a wax museum after it is closed for the night.The statues come to life and behave in mysterious ways.
Le Sabotier du Val de Loire
Screenplay
This is October 1955. The place is a village in Loire-Atlantique, La Chapelle-Basse-Mer, where an old clog-maker works and lives with his wife and their adopted son. The clog-maker's meticulous craft is described with love and close attention to detail. On the other hand, forthcoming death pervades the quiet everyday life of the elderly couple.
Le Sabotier du Val de Loire
Director
This is October 1955. The place is a village in Loire-Atlantique, La Chapelle-Basse-Mer, where an old clog-maker works and lives with his wife and their adopted son. The clog-maker's meticulous craft is described with love and close attention to detail. On the other hand, forthcoming death pervades the quiet everyday life of the elderly couple.
Le Mariage de Monaco
Assistant Director
Exclusive footage captures the wedding of American screen star Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco.
Dead Horizons
Young man
Les Horizons Morts is Jacques Demy's first surviving live-action project. A man alone in his crumbling apartment recalls being left by his girl for another man.
Dead Horizons
Director
Les Horizons Morts is Jacques Demy's first surviving live-action project. A man alone in his crumbling apartment recalls being left by his girl for another man.
Attaque nocturne
Animation
Attaque nocturne
Writer
Attaque nocturne
Director
Le Pont de Mauves
Animation
Le Pont de Mauves
Writer
Le Pont de Mauves
Director
La Ballerine
Animation
La Ballerine
Writer
La Ballerine
Director
Come and See: Part 2
Co-Director
The sequel to the hit film "Come and See" (1985)