Jacques Demy,
(born June 5, 1931, Pont-Château, France—died Oct. 27, 1990, Paris), French
director best known for his romantic musical-comedy films.
Demy studied
for two years at France’s Technical School of Photography and Cinematography
and then was an assistant to animator Paul Grimault (1952–54) and to director
Georges Roquier (1954–57). Demy’s early films include an adaptation of a Jean
Cocteau playlet Le Bel indifférent (1957; The Indifferent Lover), and the
full-length features Lola (1961) and La Baie des anges (1963; Bay of the
Angels). In Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964; The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) all
dialogue was sung to music by composer Michel Legrand; the film won the grand
prize at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. Demy’s Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
(1967; The Young Girls of Rochefort) was modeled on the American musical On the
Town and featured dancer Gene Kelly.
His later
films included such fanciful works as The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1972),
L’Évènement le plus Important Depuis que l’Homme a marché sur la lune (1973; A
Slightly Pregnant Man), Un Chambre en Ville (1982; A Room in Town), and his
final musical Trois Places pour le 26 (1988; Three Places for the 26th).
Films :
Bay Of Angels
Written by : Jacques
Demy
Starring : Jeanne
Moreau, Claude Mann
Music by : Michel
Legrand
Cinematography
: Jean Rabier
Edited by : Anne-Marie
Cotret
Release date
: 1 March 1963
Running time
: 89 minutes
Country : France
Language : French
Donkey Skin
Produced by :
Mag Bodard
Written by : Jacques
Demy, Charles Perrault (story)
Starring : Catherine
Deneuve, Jean
Marais
Music by : Michel
Legrand
Cinematography
: Ghislain Cloquet
Edited by : Anne-Marie
Cotret
Distributed
by : Entertainment One Films (North America)
Release date
: 1970
Running time
: 90 minutes
Country : France
Language : French
Lola
Produced by :
Georges de Beauregard, Carlo Ponti
Written by : Jacques
Demy
Music by : Michel
Legrand
Cinematography :
Raoul Coutard
Edited by : Anne-Marie
Cotret, Monique Teisseire
Distributed
by : Films Around the World Inc.
Release date
: March 3, 1961
Running time
: 90 minutes
Country : France,
Italy
Language : French,
English
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Produced by :
Mag Bodard
Written by : Jacques
Demy
Music by : Michel
Legrand
Cinematography
: Jean Rabier
Edited by : Anne-Marie
Cotret, Monique Teisseire
Distributed
by : 20th Century Fox
Release date
: 19 February 1964
Running time
: 91 minutes
Country : France,
West Germany
Language : French
The Young Girls of Rochefort
Produced by :
Gilbert de Goldschmidt
Written by : Jacques
Demy
Music by : Michel
Legrand
Cinematography
: Ghislain Cloquet
Edited by : Jean
Hamon
Production companies
: Madeleine Films, Parc Film
Distributed
by : Comacico
Release date
: 8 March 1967
Running time
: 126 minutes
Country : France
Language : French
A Room in Town
Produced by :
Christine Gouze-Rénal
Written by : Jacques
Demy
Music by : Michel
Colombier
Cinematography
: Jean Penzer
Edited by : Sabine
Mamou
Distributed
by : Progefi, TF1, Union Generale Cinematographique
Release date
: 27 October 1982
Running time
: 90 minutes
Country : France
Language : French
To Be continued...
