Les cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma

Oh, my heart. I think I was smiling during about 95% of this, it's just so packed with references to old movies, some explicit, some quite subtle, and has so many cameos. It centers on European cinema and Hollywood, but it covers a remarkable amount of ground and is a true tribute to cinema. It was unfortunate that there were no black directors or actors mentioned, but from where I sit, the woman who made Black Panthers in 1968 needn't explain herself to anybody. There is such love and playfulness here, Varda's signature touches, and this was a joy to watch, especially if you are a cinephile..

The cinema student and cinephile Camille Miralis (Julie Gayet) is hired by a huge amount to assist the one-hundred year-old Monsieur Simon Cinéma (Michel Piccoli), whose memories is fading away, telling stories about the movies he made along one hundred and one days. Camille meets many movie stars that visit Monsieur Cinema, including his Italian friend Marcello Mastroianni, Alain Delon and his ex-wives Jeanne Moreau and Hanna Schygulla. Meanwhile Camille learns that he misses his grandson Vincent that disappeared and she plots with her boyfriend Camille "Mica" (Mathieu Demy) that wants to make a film to use their friend Vincent (Emmanuel Salinger) that has just come from India to pose as the grandson to inherit his assets.

On the centenary of the cinema history, the fantasy "Les cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma" is a great tribute by Agnès Varda. The cinema forgetting the good films is an intelligent criticism to the quality of the contemporary commercial movies. The impressive number of cameo appearances associated to footages of classics is a delight to any cinephile. Unfortunately the lead story with Camille, Mica and Vincent is totally disappointing. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "As Cento e Uma Noites" ("The One Hundred and One Nights")

I love Agnes varda, her whimsy, her pluck, her imagination. But this film is one silly lemon that does not fit into to Varda's usually creative body of work. To be blunt, the film is only a pretext to get very famous names on the screen for 5 seconds or 5 minutes on a flimsy pretense of a script. Varda is lucky: she has the clout and longevity in cinema that allows her to call on all these big names and get an answer (heaven, even Robert de Niro and Harrison Ford showed up for their cameos!) but there is no plot, or a sophomoric one, and hardly any thread to get moved by. It is a nice collection of cinematic quotations, visual or oral, and a nutty collection of famous faces that were asked to show up probably only to increase the chances of this dud to interest any audience. It is light and inoffensive, but so silly at time that one is bewildered: all that time and money for this self absorbed nonsense? An homage to cinema? Naw. Mostly of waste of time for all involved. I am glad Varda has done many better films to be remembered by.

Love this movie! I want to see it again!

In love with the red dress!

My favorite scene is when the batler describes film noir movies.

The cast is amazing!

If you love film, and especially if you love French films, this small gem of a movie will get under your skin delightfully. Agnes Varda has created an utterly engaging, witty, wry, self-deprecating and altogether irresistible tribute to the directors and stars of classic French cinema and some American ones as well. Varda manages to poke fun at all the ridiculous pretentiousness of movie-making while understanding all the reasons why we---audience and actors and filmmakers alike---still fall hopelessly, helplessly, and contentedly in love with the magic of moving pictures. See this movie on a warm summer night with someone you love and who also loves the movies...