The Golden Coach (1952) by Jean Renoir
Sunday, October 11, 1987, 8:00 pm
Artifice and Enchantment
Renoir’s The Golden Coach & Anger’s Eaux d’Artifice
Tonight’s program features two classic films from the 1950s, programmed by Peter Herwitz. “Both works take as their themes the intermingling of theater and life. The Golden Coach, one of Renoir’s most daring films, features Anna Magnani as the leader of a Commedia dell’Arte troup performing on stage and off in 18th century Peru. The culmination of Renoir’s interest in theater, this film is a breathtakingly beautiful example of how story, color, camera and design can combine to produce a joyous speculation on the nature of paradox, truth, and the eloquence of gestures and their disguises. In Eaux d’Artifice Kenneth Anger is equally enchanted with illusion as he follows his mysterious, masked figure through the Tivoli gardens in a maze of stairs, flowers, and fountains.” (P.H.)