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Alain Delon.

RIP to a true legend

Maybe the best actor’s filmography of all time?

I love him, but surely the star of The Widow Couderc cannot have that compliment lobbed his way. Honestly I think the quality of the physicality of his work is enough to stand on. Just him standing has this impossible statuesque quality I’m always impressed by.

He made lots of garbage, as did every international star of the era. But he’s in a great collection of films that have stood the test of time, and he never rested on the laurels of just being a pretty face

Beautiful words from Claudia Cardinale:

"The ball is over. Tancredi went dancing with the stars. Always yours, Angelica"

Couldn't have said it better. Going to put The Leopard on for a spin this week. RIP Mr Delon.

Any of his films from the 1960s were enough to make him a star: his Tom Ripley in Purple Noon; Rocco and His Brothers for Visconti; L'eclisse with Monica Vitti for Antonioni; Le Samourai for Jean-Pierre Melville; the object of desire motivating Marianne Faithful to abandon her husband for a cross-country trip in The Girl on a Motorcyle, and many others.

Though lets all agree to overlook his pilot involved in a tryst with Sylvia Kristel in The Concorde ... Airport '79! (Even if his character does pimp out Bibi Andersson to George Kennedy during the course of the film!)

RIP

I've never seen Delon interviewed in English before. (The entire interview with Cavett's on YouTube in various forms, this is just an excerpt.)

Quite a bit of coverage from Le Monde, different and more in-depth than anything you'd find in the U.S. One thing I didn't realize is that going back to 2018 (when they did an extensive interview with him) Delon would often contact the paper, as if to continue the conversation albeit through extensive monologues over the phone.

hearthesilence wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2024 3:36 am Quite a bit of coverage from Le Monde, different and more in-depth than anything you'd find in the U.S.

I'm often surprised at how central film news can get in the French press. Delon is an undeniable icon of course, but the front page of Libération last Friday: Gena Rowlands. And another story advertised on the cover? Chantal Akerman and Delphine Seyrig. That just doesn't happen in the US.

hearthesilence wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2024 3:36 am That just doesn't happen in the US.

Sometimes it does.

In 1999, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown proclaimed a "Marilyn Chambers Day" for Ms. Chambers' unique place in San Francisco history and praised her for her "artistic presence", her "vision", and her "energy".

I liked Delon. Mr. Klein got on that train as we all do. Eventually.

RIP

Red Screamer wrote:

hearthesilence wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2024 3:36 am Quite a bit of coverage from Le Monde, different and more in-depth than anything you'd find in the U.S.

I'm often surprised at how central film news can get in the French press. Delon is an undeniable icon of course, but the front page of Libération last Friday: Gena Rowlands. And another story advertised on the cover? Chantal Akerman and Delphine Seyrig. That just doesn't happen in the US.

Delon is very particular to us, though, just like Belmondo was or like Johnny Halliday was (for music). It also fuels a certain current narrative that most of our extremely famous actors are gone (who is left ? Bardot ? Maybe Depardieu but his downfall has been going on for a decade at least, and Bardot's main news cycles during the past 20 movies have been her xenophobic far-right outgoings), but we do have a certain attachment to these celebrities, especially at this level of celebrity. We also do still have plenty of national news outlet that don't mostly deal in tabloid-like instant hot takes, which helps having enough outlets for sugh homages.
But I'm sure that when, say, Clint Eastwood will die, US will have similar homages.

Like Delon, Léaud's health problems are well-publicized and could leave us any day now. I was telling someone it's been sad these past 15 years to see so many leading figures in French cinema from the '50s and '60s pass away. It's especially startling when I was fortunate enough to see a few in-person in seeming great health. Catherine Deneuve is fortunately still with us, but she did have a mild stroke before the pandemic. I saw her promote a film at BAM back in 2011, and during the Q&A, someone preceded his question with, "I can't believe I'm talking to you!" The event didn't seem like it was publicized any more than any other BAM screening with a Q&A, so I had to take a second to wonder if this was really a rare opportunity to see Deneuve discuss her work in-person, but that guy was absolutely right.

tenia wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2024 4:18 pm

Red Screamer wrote:

hearthesilence wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2024 3:36 am Quite a bit of coverage from Le Monde, different and more in-depth than anything you'd find in the U.S.

I'm often surprised at how central film news can get in the French press. Delon is an undeniable icon of course, but the front page of Libération last Friday: Gena Rowlands. And another story advertised on the cover? Chantal Akerman and Delphine Seyrig. That just doesn't happen in the US.

Delon is very particular to us, though, just like Belmondo was or like Johnny Halliday was (for music). It also fuels a certain current narrative that most of our extremely famous actors are gone (who is left ? Bardot ? Maybe Depardieu but his downfall has been going on for a decade at least, and Bardot's main news cycles during the past 20 movies have been her xenophobic far-right outgoings), but we do have a certain attachment to these celebrities, especially at this level of celebrity. We also do still have plenty of national news outlet that don't mostly deal in tabloid-like instant hot takes, which helps having enough outlets for sugh homages.
But I'm sure that when, say, Clint Eastwood will die, US will have similar homages.

Eastwood seems a good comparison and I suppose the drought stateside is because so many of his contemporaries are already gone. I feel like the ‘70s stars like Hoffman, Nicholson, and especially Streep are going to be the next set of Americans to get a really big showing of mourning. In a lot of ways though I suspect the biggest elder statesman after Eastwood is Spielberg who hopefully has many years and movies ahead of him, but also is probably the most beloved name in movies for Americans over 70.

Gene Hackman will certainly get one. George Lucas, too. However divisive Lucas has become in the last few decades, he was a huge part of people’s childhoods.

Jack Nicholson is going to be the most massive passing of his era, I think. But who's to say how/why people touch the public, I would not have guessed at the outpouring of love for Robin Williams being as gargantuan as it was for instance.

Perhaps, though he's somewhat left the public eye (as has Hackman), so there may be a larger degree of folks who didn't know he was still alive when he does pass (hopefully a long, long time from now, of course)

Just remembered De Niro, who I think will surpass Nicholson given he's still very much in the public eye.

Pacino also is another one that’s still relatively in the public eye though to a slightly lesser degree.

TechnicolorAcid wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2024 10:40 pm Pacino also is another one that’s still relatively in the public eye though to a slightly lesser degree.

Do we so soon forget Dunkaccino?

Red Screamer wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2024 4:58 am

hearthesilence wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2024 3:36 am Quite a bit of coverage from Le Monde, different and more in-depth than anything you'd find in the U.S.

I'm often surprised at how central film news can get in the French press. Delon is an undeniable icon of course, but the front page of Libération last Friday: Gena Rowlands. And another story advertised on the cover? Chantal Akerman and Delphine Seyrig. That just doesn't happen in the US.

I noticed that cover of Liberation online, and was surprised, because Gena Rowlands barely got a mention in the UK, and if she did, it referenced The Notebook rather than A Woman Under The Influence. Delon did make the front cover of two UK newspapers; The Guardian, which is probably the UK equivalent of Liberation, and The Financial Times. The French are very good when it comes to paying tribute to cultural figures who pass, often giving long tributes on television news programmes and in the press. Johnny Halliday even had the equivalent of a state funeral over there.