Cinematheque Film Schedule

Japan | 1956 | Kenji Mizoguchi

Mizoguchi’s final film (he died at age 58 six months after it opened) is a penetrating group portrait of prostitutes at a fictional brothel in 1950s Tokyo. The movie, which explores the desperation that drives women to this profession, proved so effective that legal prostitution was outlawed in Japan a year after its release. With Machiko Kyo. “The best of all films examining the problems of women in postwar Japan.” –Donald Richie.

West Germany | 1971 | R. W. Fassbinder

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s international breakthrough came with this unflinching tale of a street fruit peddler whose dried-up ambitions and unhappy home life drive him to drink—and worse. The movie marked the emergence of Fassbinder’s mature style, and some hailed it as the greatest German film since WWII. Andrew Sarris went even further, calling it “the most exquisite achievement in German cinema to reach these shores since the Golden Age of Murnau, Lang, Pabst, et al.”...

United Kingdom | 2014 | Nick Fenton, Peter Strickland

This live concert film captures the Icelandic singer and artist performing songs from her eighth studio album in a multimedia stage show that is a breathtaking hybrid of performance-art piece, nature documentary, sci-fi movie, and grand opera. “A dazzling audiovisual spectacle that benefits from the full cinematic treatment.” –The Hollywood Reporter.

United States | 2013 | Alice Rothchild

An American Jew’s personal journey toward understanding and empathy for the plight of Palestinians is chronicled in this new documentary by Dr. Alice Rothchild, co-founder of American Jews for a Just Peace Boston and former professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Rothchild will answer questions after the screening, and also sell and sign her books Broken Promises, Broken Dreams and On the Brink.

United Kingdom | 2014 | Nick Fenton, Peter Strickland

This live concert film captures the Icelandic singer and artist performing songs from her eighth studio album in a multimedia stage show that is a breathtaking hybrid of performance-art piece, nature documentary, sci-fi movie, and grand opera. “A dazzling audiovisual spectacle that benefits from the full cinematic treatment.” –The Hollywood Reporter.

West Germany | 1971 | R. W. Fassbinder

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s international breakthrough came with this unflinching tale of a street fruit peddler whose dried-up ambitions and unhappy home life drive him to drink—and worse. The movie marked the emergence of Fassbinder’s mature style, and some hailed it as the greatest German film since WWII. Andrew Sarris went even further, calling it “the most exquisite achievement in German cinema to reach these shores since the Golden Age of Murnau, Lang, Pabst, et al.”...

Germany | 2013 |

Ramon Zürcher’s wildly acclaimed debut film is a domestic drama like no other. Set in a Berlin flat where a middle-class family comes together for a raucous dinner, the film makes fresh, innovative use of off-screen space, unconventional framing, dialogue fragments, and multiple perspectives—rendering a mundane situation as both a Jacques Tati-style comedy and a tense thriller. “Critics’ Pick… Mr. Zürcher has concocted something intimate yet otherworldly with this highly original debut.” –The NY Times....

South Korea | 2013 | Kim Ki-duk

Most movies by South Korea’s Kim Ki-duk (Pieta, 3-Iron, et al.) are so weird, violent, and extreme that it’s easy to forget that he also directed the meditative 2003 art-house hit Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring. But he’s back in midnight movie mode with his latest, and it’s one of his boldest and most squirm-inducing black comedies yet. Moebius is a breathlessly bizarre tale of infidelity, rape, incest, and castration that centers on a husband,...

France, Italy | 1964 | Philippe de Broca

Jean-Paul Belmondo and Françoise Dorléac (Catherine Deneuve's older sister, who died is a car crash in 1967) star in Philippe (King of Hearts) de Broca's funny, thrilling, colorful adventure film. A French soldier on leave ends up spending his vacation in Brazil, where he frantically pursues treasure hunters who have stolen an ancient Amazonian figurine from a Paris museum—and also abducted his fiancée and a French anthropologist! Music by Georges Delerue. “Wittier than any of...

West Germany | 1972 | R. W. Fassbinder

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s lesbian chamber drama, set in the heroine’s floridly designed apartment, charts the shifting power relationships and sadomasochistic passions of three women—a successful fashion designer (Margit Carstensen), her mute “slave girl” (Irm Hermann), and a sultry model (Hanna Schygulla). Molly Haskell called it “a tragi-comic love story disguised as a lesbian slumber party in high camp drag.” It’s also one of Fassbinder’s greatest films.

South Korea | 2013 | Kim Ki-duk

Most movies by South Korea’s Kim Ki-duk (Pieta, 3-Iron, et al.) are so weird, violent, and extreme that it’s easy to forget that he also directed the meditative 2003 art-house hit Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring. But he’s back in midnight movie mode with his latest, and it’s one of his boldest and most squirm-inducing black comedies yet. Moebius is a breathlessly bizarre tale of infidelity, rape, incest, and castration that centers on a husband,...

France, Italy | 1964 | Philippe de Broca

Jean-Paul Belmondo and Françoise Dorléac (Catherine Deneuve's older sister, who died is a car crash in 1967) star in Philippe (King of Hearts) de Broca's funny, thrilling, colorful adventure film. A French soldier on leave ends up spending his vacation in Brazil, where he frantically pursues treasure hunters who have stolen an ancient Amazonian figurine from a Paris museum—and also abducted his fiancée and a French anthropologist! Music by Georges Delerue. “Wittier than any of...

Austria, Singapore | 2013 | Aaron Wilson

An Australian airman shot down during WWII finds himself alone in the dense Singaporean rain forest, where nature’s menace is compounded by the sounds of nearby bombs and gunfire. This tense, immersive, almost wordless tale evokes Terrence Malick. An auspicious feature debut for Aaron Wilson. “Remarkably visceral. You can feel the stickiness of the tropics, the drench of perspiration, and the ever-present fear.” –The Hollywood Reporter

West Germany | 1972 | R. W. Fassbinder

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s lesbian chamber drama, set in the heroine’s floridly designed apartment, charts the shifting power relationships and sadomasochistic passions of three women—a successful fashion designer (Margit Carstensen), her mute “slave girl” (Irm Hermann), and a sultry model (Hanna Schygulla). Molly Haskell called it “a tragi-comic love story disguised as a lesbian slumber party in high camp drag.” It’s also one of Fassbinder’s greatest films.

Portugal | 2013 | Joaquim Pinto

Joaquim Pinto, a Portuguese sound recordist and designer turned producer and director, has worked with such filmmaking legends as Raül Ruiz, Manoel de Oliveira, and João César Monteiro. He has also lived with HIV for two decades. In his rapturously received new film diary, Pinto looks back over his life in cinema, remembers friends and lovers, and ponders the mysteries of art and the universe—all while undergoing an experimental drug treatment. “Critics’ Pick…Gentle on the...

France | 2004 | Jacques Richard

Henri Langlois, the legendary co-founder and director of the Cinémathèque Française, was born 100 years ago today. We celebrate the life of this pioneering, idiosyncratic, and controversial cinephile and film preservationist by showing this epic documentary about him. The movie features archival footage and interviews with an all-star cast of Langlois disciples and admirers, including Jean-Pierre Léaud, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Luc Godard, and Agnès Varda.

United Kingdom | 1944 | Clive Brook

A huge audience hit at this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, this forgotten British comedy (based on a popular 1920s stage play) tells of a penniless duke (Clive Brook) and his equally impoverished friend (Roland Culver) who enter into a chaste, month-long “trial marriage” with two women on a Scottish island. One of the women (played by legendary comedienne Beatrice Lillie) is a wealthy British widow; the other (Googie Withers) is an American...

West Germany | 1974 | R. W. Fassbinder

Hanna Schygulla stars in Fassbinder's fastidiously faithful adaptation of Theodor Fontane's classic novel. Set in late 19th-century Germany, it tells of a 17-year-old girl who marries a much older aristocrat, has a fling with a local womanizer, but is ultimately stifled by society's rigid moral codes. This exquisite period piece, a departure for the young director (who worked long and hard on it), boasts memorable monochrome cinematography. “Fassbinder's masterpiece.” -Penelope Gilliatt, The New Yorker....

Belgium, France, Luxembourg | 2013 | Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani

The sexy, stylish, lurid Italian crime thrillers (gialli) made by Dario Argento, Mario Bava, and others during the 1960s and 1970s are paid lush, lavish tribute in this violent, virtuosic new film from the makers of Amer. Favoring baroque high style over plot and narrative, this account of a missing wife explores that mystery via a series of gorgeous, sinister set pieces full of leather gloves, black lace, soft flesh, and sharp objects.

France, Portugal | 2012 | Valeria Sarmiento

Conceived by the late Raül Ruiz but realized by his widow and fellow filmmaker Valeria Sarmiento, this epic historical pageant (condensed from a three-part TV miniseries) is set in Portugal during 1810, as British forces commanded by Wellington help the Portuguese defend themselves against Napoleon's invading army. The movie shows how Wellington’s scorched-earth strategy uprooted and impacted people from all walks of life, and the picture’s assorted subplots are populated by an all-star cast of...

United Kingdom | 1944 | Clive Brook

A huge audience hit at this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, this forgotten British comedy (based on a popular 1920s stage play) tells of a penniless duke (Clive Brook) and his equally impoverished friend (Roland Culver) who enter into a chaste, month-long “trial marriage” with two women on a Scottish island. One of the women (played by legendary comedienne Beatrice Lillie) is a wealthy British widow; the other (Googie Withers) is an American...

Belgium, France, Luxembourg | 2013 | Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani

The sexy, stylish, lurid Italian crime thrillers (gialli) made by Dario Argento, Mario Bava, and others during the 1960s and 1970s are paid lush, lavish tribute in this violent, virtuosic new film from the makers of Amer. Favoring baroque high style over plot and narrative, this account of a missing wife explores that mystery via a series of gorgeous, sinister set pieces full of leather gloves, black lace, soft flesh, and sharp objects.

France | 2014 | Jean-Luc Godard

There are 3D movies made by Hollywood and then there is this new 3D movie made by cinema’s foremost radical and provocateur, Jean-Luc Godard. Let’s just say that you’ve never seen film 3D like this before! Like most recent Godard movies, Goodbye to Language is a collage of images, music, sound effects, and voiceover narration incorporating the filmmaker’s standard tropes and stylistic devices: men, women, and guns; a barrage of allusions to history, literature, and...

France | 2014 | Jean-Luc Godard

There are 3D movies made by Hollywood and then there is this new 3D movie made by cinema’s foremost radical and provocateur, Jean-Luc Godard. Let’s just say that you’ve never seen film 3D like this before! Like most recent Godard movies, Goodbye to Language is a collage of images, music, sound effects, and voiceover narration incorporating the filmmaker’s standard tropes and stylistic devices: men, women, and guns; a barrage of allusions to history, literature, and...

Mexico, Spain | 1961 | Luis Buñuel

One of Buñuel’s greatest films tells of a beautiful and idealistic young nun whose efforts to help the poor are met with selfishness, ingratitude, ridicule, and cruelty. Buñuel’s first movie made in his native Spain in 29 years was immediately banned there. The film will be introduced by Linda Ehrlich, associate professor of modern languages and film studies at Case Western Reserve University, who edited the memoir of Buñuel’s eldest son and fellow film director...

France | 2013 | Philippe Garrel

Louis Garrel stars in the new film by his post-New Wave auteur father, Philippe. He plays an actor who leaves his wife and young daughter and shacks up with his thespian girlfriend. This sets in motion a multifaceted drama of jealousy, poverty, love, temptation, and betrayal about “boho Parisians facing the ends of marriages, affairs, and the feasibility of bohemian existence itself” (Village Voice ). “Four stars…Cuts straight to the heart.” –Time Out New York....

France | 2013 | Philippe Garrel

Louis Garrel stars in the new film by his post-New Wave auteur father, Philippe. He plays an actor who leaves his wife and young daughter and shacks up with his thespian girlfriend. This sets in motion a multifaceted drama of jealousy, poverty, love, temptation, and betrayal about “boho Parisians facing the ends of marriages, affairs, and the feasibility of bohemian existence itself” (Village Voice ). “Four stars…Cuts straight to the heart.” –Time Out New York....

United States | 1953 | Russell Rouse

Legendary film critic Andrew Sarris once compiled a list of "The 25 Most Memorable Cult Films.” On it, he called this seedy noir drama "my own all-time schlock favorite." Wicked Woman was also showcased at this year's Telluride Film Festival, programmed by guest directors Guy Maddin and Kim Morgan. Beverly Michaels plays the “wicked woman” of the title, a blonde floozy who drifts into Nowheresville, USA, lands a job as a waitress, and soon plots...

Ireland, United Kingdom | 2014 | Leonard (Lenny) Abrahamson

Michael Fassbender and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in this offbeat musical about a Brit office worker and wannabe musician who joins an avant-garde indie rock band. This group has an oddball front man who wears an oversized, cartoonish papier-mâché head—not only when he’s on stage singing, but all the time. Based on a true case. “A genuine original in a summer sea of sameness, and a darkly comedic manifesto against the cultural status quo….A profound examination...

West Germany | 1975 | R. W. Fassbinder

Fassbinder himself stars in one of his most powerful and beautifully photographed films. He plays an ex-carnival barker who wins the lottery, then is exploited by his bourgeois boyfriend. Though set in a gay milieu, this is really a scathing critique of class prejudice.

Ireland, United Kingdom | 2014 | Leonard (Lenny) Abrahamson

Michael Fassbender and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in this offbeat musical about a Brit office worker and wannabe musician who joins an avant-garde indie rock band. This group has an oddball front man who wears an oversized, cartoonish papier-mâché head—not only when he’s on stage singing, but all the time. Based on a true case. “A genuine original in a summer sea of sameness, and a darkly comedic manifesto against the cultural status quo….A profound examination...

Belgium, France, Germany | 2013 | Catherine Breillat

Isabelle Huppert stars in the semi-autobiographical new film by longtime feminist and provocateur Catherine Breillat. This new move from the director of Romance, Fat Girl, and Bluebeard focuses on a mature female filmmaker who suffers a stroke and then, during recovery, succumbs to the charms of a criminal whom she has hired to star in her next film. (He swindles her out of a lot of money.) All this really happened to Breillat a few...

Belgium, France, Germany | 2013 | Catherine Breillat

Isabelle Huppert stars in the semi-autobiographical new film by longtime feminist and provocateur Catherine Breillat. This new move from the director of Romance, Fat Girl, and Bluebeard focuses on a mature female filmmaker who suffers a stroke and then, during recovery, succumbs to the charms of a criminal whom she has hired to star in her next film. (He swindles her out of a lot of money.) All this really happened to Breillat a few...

United States | 1953 | Russell Rouse

Legendary film critic Andrew Sarris once compiled a list of "The 25 Most Memorable Cult Films.” On it, he called this seedy noir drama "my own all-time schlock favorite." Wicked Woman was also showcased at this year's Telluride Film Festival, programmed by guest directors Guy Maddin and Kim Morgan. Beverly Michaels plays the “wicked woman” of the title, a blonde floozy who drifts into Nowheresville, USA, lands a job as a waitress, and soon plots...

West Germany | 1975 | R. W. Fassbinder

Fassbinder himself stars in one of his most powerful and beautifully photographed films. He plays an ex-carnival barker who wins the lottery, then is exploited by his bourgeois boyfriend. Though set in a gay milieu, this is really a scathing critique of class prejudice.

United States | 1964 | George Roy Hill

Peter Sellers plays an amorous, egotistical concert pianist whose habitual philandering is interrupted by two adoring schoolgirls who stalk him all over Manhattan. Sellers was at the height of his stardom when he made this delightful film, but the two teen newcomers (Merrie Spaeth, Tippy Walker) steal the show. This early work from the director of Butch Cassidy, The Sting, and Slap Shot was revived at this year's TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood....

France | 2001 | François Dupeyron

Nominated for nine César Awards (French Oscars) including Best Film, Director, Actor, and Screenplay, and winning two, this unreleased-in-America French WWI epic focuses on a young lieutenant (Éric Caravaca) who spends the Great War in a hospital after his face is blown apart early in the conflict. Depressed and lonely, and haunted by one blissful pre-war night of love with his fiancée, the disfigured officer yearns for death but must summon the courage to live....

Germany | 2013 | David Wnendt

An 18-year-old girl obsessed with phallic vegetables, bodily fluids, bad hygiene, and her parents’ divorce finds herself in the hospital after an intimate shaving accident. This adaptation of Charlotte Roche’s scandalous best-selling novel is a daring, inventive gross-out comedy that balances ickiness with humor, style, and even sweetness. “Crass, vulgar and brilliant.” –San Francisco Chronicle.

Germany, Netherlands, Russia | 2012 | Jos Stelling

This opulent new version of Camille by veteran Dutch helmer Jos Stelling (The Pointsman, The Illusionist) is set during the 18th century at a lavish German hotel, where a visiting Russian doctor falls in love with a beautiful, consumptive courtesan who is kept there by a decadent, elderly count. Best Film, Netherlands Film Festival.

West Germany | 1976 | R. W. Fassbinder

Fassbinder’s broad, buffoonish comedy focuses on a revolutionary poet (Kurt Raab) suffering from writer’s block and desperate for money. In his quest to score some cash, he sleeps with a variety of women, shoots one of them, and plagiarizes (and impersonates) celebrated German gay poet Stefan George. “A kind of Father Knows Best on acid.” –The NY Times.

Germany | 2013 | David Wnendt

An 18-year-old girl obsessed with phallic vegetables, bodily fluids, bad hygiene, and her parents’ divorce finds herself in the hospital after an intimate shaving accident. This adaptation of Charlotte Roche’s scandalous best-selling novel is a daring, inventive gross-out comedy that balances ickiness with humor, style, and even sweetness. “Crass, vulgar and brilliant.” –San Francisco Chronicle.