Avary on Franco

Dass die Cinematheque Francaise einen neugezogenen Print von Jess Francos Necronomicon - Geträumte Sünden zeigt, ist ja schon mal erfreulich genug (und einmal mehr auch als Mahnung an hiesige Kinematheken und Festivals zu verstehen, sich doch bitte einmal der verschollenen und nicht selten ganz und gar aufregenden Geschichte des europäischen Schmuddelkinos vergangener Dekaden zuzuwenden). Dass die Vorführung in Anwesenheit von Jess Franco und dessen Gattin wie Muse Lina Romay stattfindet ebenso. Dass dann nun aber auch noch der Regisseur Roger Avary im Publikum sitzt und mit den Augen eines frischgeborenen Enthusiasten diesen Film in sich aufsaugt - obwohl er kein Wort des Dialogs und der französischen Untertitel versteht - und uns dann auch noch in seinem Weblog euphorisch von diesem Erlebnis berichtet, das ist dann schon ganz und gar großartig.

And as the legendary Jess Franco was here in the theater I decided to stick it out. The main feature began...and boy did it begin. From the people who brought you "Resident Evil 2": CONSTANTIN FILMS. I was astonished. How long has this company been around? Then, to my surprise, I realized the obvious. This was a dubbed German production with French subtitles. Not that you need to understand what's being said. Nothing relates to anything...by design! It's sort of like soft core porn as shot by Bunuel. What is amazing about the film is that it's really masterfully woven together. The things Jess Franco was doing, under the guise of making soft-core, was truly remarkable. The audio in the film especially, and how it was threaded into the music -- which was somehow a cross between classical and jazz tracks. Believe it or not, it was every bit as good as "El" or "Viridiana" or even "Exterminating Angel" (sorry, Alex -- I really believe this). Jess Franco is an auteur, and something of a master -- I can't deny it. Afterward we went to a dinner with Jess, Lina, the Cinematheque crowd, and the biographer/filmmaker dude. I sat there and watched Christophe, who is without question a greater authority on cinema than Quentin Tarantino, spoon the marrow from bones and eat it with rock salt while he discussed the most obscure and long dead Italian composers who, of course, Jess knew personally. There couldn't have been a better person at the table than Christophe. He truly knows the work of Franco (his stack of Franco DVD's is wider than his stack of John Ford), and was able to discuss in intimate detail this man's entire life. At one point he leaned over to me and with a jab of the elboe said that the first porn film he ever saw, at 9, starred the old lady sitting at the other end of the table -- Lina. He then scooped some more marrow into his mouth and laughed. At this point I realized that Fellini could have made an epic film about this night, and the weirdest event hadn't even happened yet.

[via daily greencine]