Stavisky

press release: France | 1974 | DCP | 118 min. | French with English subtitles

Director: Alain Resnais; Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Boyer, Gerard Depardieu

From money laundering to influence-peddling, casino gambling to dabbling in controversial politics, the life of Serge Alexandre (Belmondo), aka Stavisky, reveals the making and unmaking of the theatrically charming con man in turn-of-the-century France. Belmondo’s only collaboration with nouvelle vague hero Resnais also features a rare original score from Stephen Sondheim!

Screenings mostly take place at 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue. Once-a-month Sunday afternoon screenings take place at the Chazen Museum of Art, 750 University Avenue. In accord with current UW Madison policies, masks are required for entry to our venues. All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public. Please visit our website for a complete listing of programs and descriptions.

September 6, 2021 marked the passing of one of international cinema’s greatest leading men, Jean-Paul Belmondo. This February-April, we pay due homage to the tough, sometimes tender, and always irresistible Belmondo with three of his very best starring roles, beginning with the French New Wave movie that made him a superstar, Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. After a few years as a go-to leading man for other, now-canonized New Wave movies and directors of the 1960s, Belmondo switched to mainstream European entertainments in the '70s and '80s, in particular, comedies and action vehicles like our second selection, The Hunter Will Get You (L’alpagueur), where the brave actor frequently performed his own hair-raising stunts. Belmondo returned, in 1974, to work for another nouvelle vague legend, Alain Resnais, in the nostalgic con artist bio-pic Stavisky.