Week-end Delphine Seyrig

Delphine Seyrig has left an indelible mark on cinema. By her screen presence. Above all, by her unique voice. The tone of her voice. Her tempo, her way of saying things. A voice and diction rivalled only by Marguerite Duras. But Delphine Seyrig is also a path, a trajectory. That of a career whose choices reflect a rare rigour; always in the vanguard, from Alain Resnais to Chantal Akerman, via Luis Buñuel and Marguerite Duras. It was also the story of a life whose feminist commitment made her an important figure in the fight for women's rights. In 1971, she signed the Manifesto of the 343 calling for the legalisation of abortion (the Veil law would not be passed until 1975). Along with Carole Roussopoulos and Ioana Wieder, she founded the Insoumuses, a collective of militant women film-makers shooting pamphlets on video (at the beginning of the video), then the Centre Simone de Beauvoir, an archive of audiovisual heritage and support for women's creative work. Struggle is art. Art is a struggle. Delphine Seyrig is a perfect illustration of this. The tenth muse, the muse of modern times; as her initials suggest: a goddess.

Programming :

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Luis Buñuel
1972. French / Spanish / Italian. 105 min. Color. DCP.

Bulle Ogier and Delphine Seyrig, fictional sisters in an enigmatic and disturbing fable. Luis Buñuel introduces us to high society, which has dressed up for the occasion in all its elegant abjection. Unfortunately, instead of a sumptuous meal of caviar, a real drama unfolds before our very eyes: the satiated bourgeois will never be satisfied. Based on a dinner party that fails to materialise, Buñuel paints a vitriolic picture of the cracked façade of high society in a film that remains as relevant as it is impertinent.

> Saturday 29 March at 4pm

The Red Lips
Harry Kümel
1971. Belgium / France / Italy / Germany. 98 min. Color. DCP. English VO with French subtitles.

Fade to red. An astonishing retelling of the vampire myth and the legend of Countess Báthory by Belgian director Harry Kümel. The beach at Ostend, a deserted Art Deco hotel, a mysterious countess accompanied by a strange maid and a newly-wed couple. Delphine Seyrig is imperial as the incandescent, manipulative vamp, and François de Roubaix's unforgettable experimental-pop score. There are disturbing little games between friends and even a variation on Hitchcock's beloved shower scene. A work of biting irony, definitely somewhere between avant-garde and exploitation cinema.

The film was banned for under-16s at the time of release.

> Saturday 29 March at 6pm

Be beautiful and shut up!
Delphine Seyrig
1975-1976. Fr. 110 min. B&W. DCP.

A documentary of exemplary sobriety and the art of pointing out the inequalities in the film industry. The only feature film directed by Delphine Seyrig (although she co-directed other films, notably with Carole Roussopoulos). Between Hollywood and Paris, Delphine Seyrig talks to twenty-three actresses of different nationalities. Ellen Burstyn, Maria Schneider, Juliet Berto, Candy Clark, Rita Renoir, Jane Fonda, Louise Fletcher, Shirley McLaine and all the others talk about their professional experiences, the roles they were offered and their relationships with the directors and technical crews on set.

> Sunday 30 March at 2pm

Last Year at Marienbad
Alain Resnais
1961. Fr / It. 100 min. B&W. DCP.

The vertigo of the new French cinema of the 1960s. In a luxurious hotel and its gardens, a man and a woman meet and meet again... cross paths. They met last year, right here in Marienbad. They had arranged to go away together this year. But the woman (Delphine Seyrig) doesn't remember, or pretends not to... A perpetual balancing act between the real and the imaginary, with Alain Resnais playing marvellously with the ambiguity of his narrative structure. A labyrinthine masterpiece from which there is no escape.

> Sunday 30 March at 4pm

All practical information: La Cinémathèque de Toulouse