The Eagle Has Two Heads screening with Cruel Tale

L’Aigle a deux têtes avec Conte Cruel

The Eagle Has Two Heads
Dir. Jean Cocteau, 1948, France, 90min, DCP
Starring Edwige Feuillère, Jean Marais, Silvia Monfort

Undeservedly the least known of Cocteau and Marias’ collaborations, their follow-up to Beauty and the Beast has been nearly invisible in recent decades. Edwige Feuillère, the grande dame of early French cinema, here reprises the stage role Cocteau had written for her. Against a backdrop of European royalty (the two-headed eagle long a symbol of empire), Marias enters as an anarchist poet sent to assassinate the Queen. Photographed by Christian Matras (Grand Illusion, Lola Montes), and later radically adapted by Antonioni for his film The Mystery of Oberwald.

Cruel Tale
Dir. Gaston Modot, 1930, France, 34min, DCP
Silent with recorded soundtrack by Léon Rousseau

1460 in Saragossa, the Spanish Inquisition, a Jewish man is being held in a dungeon torture chamber for his refusal to convert. This is the setting where Gaston Modot, star of Buñuel’s L’Age d’or, here directing his only film, creates a miraculous play of double exposures, handheld camera and tricks of light. A work of unbelievable atmosphere and crushing dread.

Cinésalon is made possible by the generous support of BNP Paribas, Sofitel New York and Air France.

Version restauree/Restored Version

Whenever Version restaurée appears in a festival program guide, trailer (bande-annonce), or before the start of a film, it indicates a new and exciting chance to revisit a beloved classic, or make a significant discovery. In recent years, extraordinary ‘restored versions’, particularly from the French speaking world, have been made available by archives, cinémathèques, rights holders and studios. Most of these restorations have never screened in the U.S., and in some cases, haven’t been shown since their original release, if ever released in the U.S. at all.

For the Fall 2024 season, L’Alliance New York presents an expansive series consisting exclusively of New York, U.S. and world premieres of Version restaurée films. Running from September 10 to December 17, the series will comprise over twenty features and short films from France, Senegal, Tunisia, Switzerland, Burkina Faso, and the Louisiana Bayou, including a 1929 muet (Gaston Modot’s Conte Cruel) to a masterpiece of the new century (Godard’s Éloge de l’amour), and films by Frederick Wiseman, Marguerite Duras, Fernando Arrabal, Idrissa Ouédraogo, Christian-Jacque, Jacques Deray, Yolande Zauberman, Samba Félix Ndiaye and Jean Cocteau.

Event Pricing:
Member Price: Free
Non Member Price: $16
Under 28 Price: $8
Buy Series Pass $50 for 2 months

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