EIFF2008: Jeanne Moreau retrospective

I didn't manage to see either VIVA MARIA! or LE FEU FOLLET due to clashes with other films, but I did manage to see all the other films in the Jeanne Moreau retrospective. To be honest, most of them really didn't do it for me.

THE BRIDE WORE BLACK, a revenge film about a bride seeking the killers of her husband which Quentin Tarantino claims didn't inspire KILL BILL (honest), was pretty enjoyable.

TIME TO LEAVE was depressing but worth watching.

LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD was cool and one of the better films on offer. Plenty of suspense and some nice twists. Great jazz score too.

JULES ET JIM, probably the most famous film on offer, is a bona-fide classic and also stood out, although it will be released in a brand new digital print this month if you missed it.

THE TRIAL, featuring Orson Welles, Anthony Perkins and very little Moreau was absolutely brilliant, easily the best of the retrospective.

But the rest? QUERELLE was beautifully shot but bloody awful; THE IMMORTAL STORY was only an hour in length but felt like more - another terrible effort; NATHALIE GRANGER was rubbish (nothing happens!) and only comes to life for a few minutes when Gerard Depardieu appears. The rest of the films not mentioned here didn't really do anything for me either way - I don't despise them but I'd never watch any of them again.

All in all, the retrospective left me with the impression that Moreau, whom I was largely unfamiliar with before the festival, is a very good actress who makes very dull films.

You can't win them all.

The rest of my Edinburgh round-up will arrive next week, after I've been to yet another festival.