The Stories about Music Films: 22. Tous les matins du monde (1991)

Basic Info

Title: Tous les matins du monde

Genre: Drama

Country: France

Language: French

Running time: 115 minutes

Release date: 18 December 1991

Staff

Director: Alain Corneau

Producer: Jean-Louis Livi

Written by: Pascal Quignard, Alain Corneau

Music: Jordi Savall, Sainte-Colombe, Marin Marais

Cinematography: Yves Angelo

Edited by: Marie-Josephe Yoyotte

Cast

Gérard Depardieu as Marin Marais

Jean-Pierre Marielle as Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe

Anne Brochet as Madeleine

Guillaume Depardieu as Young Marin Marais

Summary

"Tous les matins du monde" is a 1991 French film based on Pascal Quignard’s novel of the same name. Set during the reign of Louis XIV, this film shows the renowned musician Marin Marais, who recalls his young life when he was a pupil of Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, and features a lot of music of the time, especially that for the viola da gamba. 

Marin Marais, André Bouys (1704)

The title of the film is explained at the end of the film: in Quignard's novel, "Tous les matins du monde sont sans retour" ("all the mornings of the world never return") was spoken by Marais when he learns of the death of Madeleine. 

Plot

Marin Marais, an old court composer, recalls his former master and best viol player, Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe. 

After his wife's death, Sainte-Colombe alone raises two daughters, teaches them music, and holds concerts with them for local nobles. His reputation is known to the court of Louis XIV, and the king sends an envoy to request him to play at court. However, Sainte-Colombe curtly refused the king's request, and the unpleasant king prevented people from attending the concerts by Sainte-Colombe and his daughters.

Sainte-Colombe shuts himself in a cabin in his garden to complete the art of viol playing and to indulge in visions of his dead wife. Some years later, 17-year-old Marin Marais visits Sainte-Colombe to learn music from the master. Shortly thereafter, Sainte-Colombe, unaware of Marais' musical talent, refuses to teach him and sends him away. 

Madeleine, Colombe's elder daughter, is saddened as she has fallen in love with Marais. She teaches him what her father has taught her and allows him to secretly listen to her father playing. During this time, Marais is hired as a court musician.

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Movie Review

“Beautiful and heart-rending”

“Haunting and beautiful”

“Best use of Music in Film”

“Absorbing Story”

“A must-see for fans of early music”

“Melancholically beautiful”

“Watch it twice: one time for the story, the second time for the music”

“Excellent portrait of a musician”

Interesting stories about the film

The film's soundtrack album, which contains Baroque music, outsold Michael Jackson, upon its release in France, and outsold Madonna upon its release in the United States.

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The Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 61. Portrait of Max Jacob (1916)

How are you?

Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week.

The 61st work to introduce for this week is “Portrait of Max Jacob” in 1916.

This work is an expressionist style portrait and an oil painting on a canvas with the size of 92.7 x 60.3 cm, and possessed by Cincinnati Art Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

Cincinnati Art Museum

Max Jacob was a French poet, painter, writer and critic who was born on July 12, 1876 and died on March 5, 1944.

Max Jacob

Jacob was born from a family of a poor Jewish tailor in Quimper, Brittany. However, despite his poverty, he was very interested in costumes, and his preferences for the costumes can be guessed from his appearances in this work as well as another painting wearing a hat that Modigliani painted him.

Max Jacob, Modigliani (1916)

He was one of the first friends whom Pablo Picasso met in Paris. The two met in the summer of 1901, and Jacob helped Picasso learn French. Jacob also became close friends with Modigliani, and Modigliani painted his portrait in 1916.

Amedeo Modigliani, Max Jacob, Andre Salmon and Ortiz de Zarate taken by Jean Cocteau in Montparnasse, Paris (1916)

In May 1936, Jacob, who moved outside of Paris and settled in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Loiret, was arrested by the Gestapo on February 24, 1944 and imprisoned at Orléans prison. Jacob, who was imprisoned at Orléans prison, was then transferred to Drancy internment camp and then supposed to be transferred to Auschwitz. However, Max Jacob, who was suffering from bronchial pneumonia, died on March 5 in the infirmary of La Cité de la Muette, a former housing block which served as the internment camp known as Drancy.

Max Jacob, shown in this painting, is characterized by his complex appearance, such as a few white hair, eyes with no pupils through which the wall can be seen, curved eyebrows, a hooked nose, almost invisible lips, angled chin and cheekbones. 

It seems that Modigliani has well captured and expressed his diverse and complex characters in this painting, such as gentleness, kindness, cruelty and lust that his friends described him.

In general, Modigliani drew eyes without pupils when it was difficult to express the personality or character of his model, so it seems that Jacob's eyes without pupils was due to the difficulty for expressing his diverse and complex personality.

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK: 44. Giovanni Bellini, ACJ Art Academy

Born: c.1430; Venice, Italy

Died: 1516; Venice, Italy

Active Years: 1450 - 1516

Nationality: Italian

Art Movement: Renaissance

Field: painting

Influenced on: Antonello da Messina, Bartolomeo Veneto, Palma Vecchio, Albrecht Durer

Pupils: Giorgione, Titian, Sebastiano del Piombo

Friends/Co-workers: Albrecht Durer

Family/Relatives: Jacopo Bellini, Gentile Bellini, Andrea Mantegna

Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, born around 1430 and died on November 26, 1516. He was the most famous of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, who was more highly regarded than Giovanni during his lifetime, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. 

He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting by transforming it with a more sensuous and coloristic style. Giovanni used a clear, slow-drying oil paints to create deep, rich tints and detailed shadings. His sumptuous coloring and atmospheric landscapes had a great influence on the Venetian painting school, especially on his pupils Giorgione and Titian.

FAMOUS WORKS

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1. Albrecht Durer

2. Giorgione

3. Titian

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64. History of Rock Music: 3. The British Invasion, ACJ Music Academy

How are you?

Following the last week, I am going to start my 64th lecture.

The topic for this week is “The British Invasion”, the third theme of “The History of Rock”.

This lecture is a summary of the contents of “64. History of Rock Music: 3. The British Invasion, ACJ Music Academy” introduced on October 15, 2016.

The British Invasion refers to a phenomenon in which British rock and pop artists, along with British culture, gained great popularity in the United States in the mid-1960s. British pop/rock groups such as The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, The Animals and The Who acted as the leaders of this phenomenon.

The Beatles

The Dave Clark Five

The Kinks

The Rolling Stones

Herman's Hermits

The Animals

The Who

In the late 1950s, the rebellious music and image of American rock and roll and blues musicians became very popular with young British people. While early commercial attempts to imitate American rock and roll in the UK have mostly failed, the popularity of the traditional jazz-inspired skiffle sound and its “do it yourself'' stance became the starting point for some British bands to create songs that entered the US Billboard charts.

In 1962, a "beat boom" began in several regions of the UK, including the movement of Liverpool known as Merseybeat, and by the end of 1962, the beat groups such as The Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers, The Searchers, Herman's Hermits and The Hollies began to appear. 

Gerry and the Pacemakers

The Searchers

The Hollies

They initially reinterpreted and performed traditional American music, but soon began to create their own music that mixed American music forms with the beat. Among them, in December 1962, "Telstar", an instrumental song by The Tornados, became the first song to be ranked no.1 by the British group on the American Billboard Hot 100 chart. 

The Tornados

In 1963, Beatles-led beat groups began to achieve success in England and soon began to enter music charts dominated by the rhythm and blues genre. The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was the first of their songs to be no.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the United States, which ranked no. 1 for 7 weeks and stayed on the charts for 15 weeks. On February 9, 1964, 73 million people watched TV to see The Beatles, which first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles became the most record-selling rock band of all time, and many British bands following The Beatles entered the American music charts.

The Beatles arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport (7 February 1964)

Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show

The British Invasion helped the globalization of rock and roll, opening the door to global success for later British musicians. In the United States, the popularity of surf music, girl groups and teen idol music that dominated the American charts in the late 1950s and 1960s ended, and the popularity of R&B musicians such as Fats Domino and Chubby Checker was declined, and it temporarily destroyed the resurgence of rock and roll singers like Elvis Presley. 

The British Invasion played an important role in making rock music an independent genre based on making their own music and laid the foundation for solidifying the popularity of rock groups.

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Next week, I will lecture 4th topic “Birth of Hard Rock/Metal”.

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The Stories about Art Films: 19. Renoir (2012), ACJ Movie Academy

Basic Info

Title: Renoir

Genre: Drama

Country: France

Language: French

Running time: 111 minutes

Release date: 25 May 2012 (Cannes), 2 January 2013 (France)

Staff

Director: Gilles Bourdos

Produced by: Olivier Delbosc, Marc Missonnier

Screenplay: Jérome Tonnerre, Michel Spinosa, Gilles Bourdos

Music: Alexandre Desplat

Cinematography: Mark Lee Ping Bin

Editor: Yannick Kergoat

Cast

Michel Bouquet as Auguste Renoir

Christa Théret as Andrée Heuschling

Vincent Rottiers as Jean Renoir

Thomas Doret as Coco

Romane Bohringer as Gabrielle Renard

Summary

“Renoir” is a French drama film released in 2012 based on the last years of Pierre-Auguste Renoir in Cagnes-sur-Mer during World War I. The film was directed by Gilles Bourdos and competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Set in southern France during World War I, the film starred Michel Bouquet, Christa Theret and Vincent Rottiers. 

Self-portrait, Pierre Auguste Renoir (1910)

The film was well received and achieved commercial success in France and abroad, and it is most notable that it was included in the Critic's Pick list of The New York Times in the United States. The film was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but was not nominated. In January 2014, the film was nominated in four categories at the 39th César Awards, winning for Best Costume Design.

Plot

The film tells the forgotten story of Andrée Heuschling, also known as Catherine Hessling, who was the last model of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the first actress in the films made by his son, the film director Jean Renoir. Andrée was the link between two famous artists, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Jean Renoir. 

Catherine Hessling

Blonde à la rose, Hessling painted by Renoir (1915-17)

While the father was at the end of his brilliant career at the time, his son, who would later become one of the most famous movie directors, had not yet started his great career and was still searching for himself.

The young Renoir with Gabrielle Renard, Pierre Auguste Renoir (1895-96)

Movie Review

“A gorgeous movie”

“Sumptuous story of painter and filmmaker son”

“Beautifully Impressionistic Film”

“Renoir: cinema as an impressionist art form”

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