Locarno Wrap-Up

[Eve]

I'm terribly sorry - I guess I must be at times really too stupid (and maybe sensitive) when it comes to this ...

[catbuglah]

And still another thing: Welles was an 'aristocrat' (not only) in terms of his work - far away from Chaplin and Hitchcock ... and our society.

Reminds of a quote from Jean Renoir:

"I read in an article by Marcuse, and his theory is that silent films were made for the working classes because they could appeal to all levels, which perhaps explains the great popularity of people like Chaplin and Keaton. But the man of the working class now has two cars and sends his children to the best schools; in fact, the working class has become the middle class. And almost all films today and for the last twenty years have been made for the middle class. Actually, most directors---even the greatest ones---are bourgeois directors. Orson Welles is one of a handful of aristocrats. And his films are aristocratic works. It is probably for that reason that they often are not financially successful. He is also a great actor who so emerges himself in a role that his own personality does not even exist any longer while he is in that character. I like his work so much that I even like him when he is not good, because at all times he remains an artist."

[Christopher]

Quote: "Moreau could still rerecord her dialogue for THE DEEP, but her voice is of course quite different today than it was 37 years ago. She's a very heavy smoker and her voice is huskier than before."

It would be really ironic if Jeanne Moreau agreed to dub her dialogue in THE DEEP after all these years, even if she did it in her present-day husky smoker's voice. One of the reasons Orson Welles was unable to finish THE DEEP was because when the time came for Moreau to dub her dialogue in the studio in Paris, she wouldn't do it. The reasons were never clear but in effect, however greatly Moreau admired Welles and no matter how many wonderful things she said about him in public, in private she let him down in a big way

[Eve]

going back to the previous post:
catbuglah - thanks for this wonderful quote, of course I stole it from there - I just think it's so deeply revealing ...

Christopher - I'm certainly one of the least qualified persons to speculate about it at all, but couldn't Moreaus' supposed behaviour during the shooting and afterwards simply have something to do with possible feelings of resentment towards Kodar - in a professional (regarding the roles she played for Welles before in THE TRIAL, CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT and THE IMMORTAL STORY and than after this film it 'ended' - and the staring role in THE DEEP that went to Kodar) and maybe also personal way (everyone who has seen the 'Arena special' (or especially Reichenbachs' PORTRAIT ORSON WELLES with the behind-the-scenes footage of IMMORTAL STORY) can see clearly that she did have certain kinds of feelings for him)? I wouldn't 'blame' her that much, if there's really some truth in it ...

[NoFake]

I think Eve may have something there, re: her speculation on Jeanne Moreau's possible “feelings of resentment” toward Oja Kodar. At Locarno’s “Deep” workshop, script-girl Ljuba Gamulin was openly hostile toward Kodar, almost flat-out blaming her for what Gamulin described as tensions between Welles and almost everyone else. Chris Welles responded from the audience that Moreau had expected to play Kodar’s part, and was surprised and no doubt none too pleased to find herself playing the “older woman.” Moreau couldn’t be at the conference, due to prior commitments, so we don’t know how she would have responded, and Kodar was not on this panel. The whole thing left me feeling a bit queasy. (I expected that from the film -- given the story line -- or even from the quality of the footage, but not from the panel...!)

[mteal]

Very interesting stuff. If he was involved with Moreau in anyway, one would think it pretty careless (almost crazy) of Welles to put both her and Kodar together in such tight shooting quarters as a boat at sea, especially if Kodar had been given Moreau's part. This behind-the-scenes angle adds more fuel to my thinking that a documentary about the film's failure to reach completion might be more entertaining and better serve Welles's artistic legacy then any actual attempt to complete the film, which sounds like it would require too much guesswork unless more material is found. Of course, that documentary might involve some sensitive speculations about the two women, so we may have to wait until either Moreau or Kodar are dead...or at least no longer care.

I can still remember reading an interview with Moreau some years ago in which she talked briefly (and unenthusiastically) about THE DEEP, referring to Oja as 'that Kodar woman'.

[Harvey Chartrand]

Alienating Jeanne Moreau was not a wise career move on Welles' part. Moreau was a huge international star in the sixties, at the peak of her beauty and box office clout. She lent her alluring, world-weary presence to three Welles films (THE TRIAL, FALSTAFF/CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT, THE IMMORTAL STORY) that would otherwise never have been made. Her generous participation reassured the moneymen and she helped Welles strike a deal with ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française) for THE IMMORTAL STORY. These masterpieces were made during a midlife burst of artistic creativity that lasted from 1962 to 1968. Sadly, it was never to be repeated. Once Oja Kodar arrives on the scene and THE DEEP founders, Moreau ends her artistic partnership with Welles, who never completes another film in the next 16 years of his life, except for his big essay project stitched together from snippets of other people's footage – ?
Essentially, Welles traded in Moreau, a proven box office draw, for Oja Kodar, a younger unknown. It's there for all to see: with Moreau on board, Welles was able to complete and release three of his own films in rapid succession – a feat he had not been able to pull off since the 1940s.
I'm sure Ms. Kodar made Welles a very happy man, but she (and director Henry Jaglom), despite the best of intentions, were not able to interest studios in financing Welles pictures.

[Eve]

She lent her alluring, world-weary presence to three Welles films (THE TRIAL, FALSTAFF/CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT, THE IMMORTAL STORY) that would otherwise never have been made.

I'm not sure, but this is true 'only' of IMMORTAL STORY, isn't it?

... who never completes another film in the next 16 years of his life, except for his big essay project stitched together from snippets of other people's footage – ?

... if one thinks of the bad luck that kept him from completing THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, MERCHANT OF VENICE, ...
and - I don't know if there's anything to it, but these films were done in Europe and after he returned to the U.S. ...

[Christopher]

Eve -- To go back several posts, I believe you are right that Jeanne Moreau's refusal to dub her part in the finishing stages of THE DEEP was motivated to some degree by her jealousy of Oja Kodar who was then a much younger and stunningly beautiful woman as well as Orson Welles's new inamorata. However, since Moreau can't speak for herself, we are only spectulating, as we so often do on this board. All we know for sure is that Moreau was then in her forties (I believe) and Kodar was in her twenties, and the part Welles gave to Kodar called for a woman in her twenties, not in her forties. That Moreau would refuse to accept this and then take it out on Kodar, and later on Welles, does not show her in the best light.

[Christopher]

Harvey -- Welles did not "alienate" Moreau. It was she who assumed she was going to play the younger woman in THE DEEP, which was her mistake, not his. Welles had every right as the director to cast the roles as he saw fit.

[Eve]

... the part Welles gave to Kodar called for a woman in her twenties, not in her forties. That Moreau would refuse to accept this and then take it out on Kodar, and later on Welles, does not show her in the best light.

Christopher -- that's most true. Still speculating - personally I could understand a possible hostile reaction towards Kodar, but certainly not a supposed refusal to dub her part.
Is it really true that Moreau did expect to play Kodar's part? I can hardly imagine that she - as a truly intelligent woman was totally convinced that she would be given the part - especially if one thinks of her role and appearance in IMMORTAL STORY - where she too didn't play a woman of twenty ...
Anyone who's interested, check out the fabulous photos Nicolas Tikhomiroff made during the shooting of THE DEEP - there's plenty of 'explanation' in Moreau's face ...

[Christopher]

Quote: "Is it really true that Moreau did expect to play Kodar's part?"

Eve -- I have every reason to believe it is true, but I can certainly understand your surprise. The truth, in this instance, has been suppressed for many years out of deference for Jeanne Moreau and her high standing as an actress in France and elsewhere. However, I feel it is time the truth came out and put a stop to people criticizing Welles for his "failure" to finish his films or inventing theories that Welles had "a fear of completion." Nothing could be more absurd...unless it is the assumption that the reason Welles did not finish films in his later years is because he "alienated" Jeanne Moreau. Welles did finish F FOR FAKE, as we all know, and it did not star Jeanne Moreau. I'm sorry, I don't mean to offend anyone, but it is ludicrous to suggest that the success of any movie director is dependent on an actress he has worked with in the past and, therefore, he should continue to work exclusively with that actress.

[Roger Ryan]

For those who are interested in learning more about the Welles retrospective in Locarno, the following site has a very comprehensive two part article on it:

http://www.dcfilmsociety.org/storyboard.htm

Click on the October issue for the first article concerning the various films by and about Welles shown at the festival; the current November issue discusses the workshops.

[mteal]

Great site, Roger. Between the two parts, that is a massive amount of information.

[Clive Dale]

The retrospective was curated by the Munich Film Museum, which organized two similarly ambitious Welles conferences in Germany
(Munich in 1999, Mannheim in 2002), as part of the Film Museum's triennial

Where will it be in 2008 ?