Amour or Less: A Blier Buffet

Having spent nearly a half-century plunging his characters (and his audience) into inevitably twisted relationships that blur the lines between the uncomfortable and the liberating, writer/director Bertrand Blier has singlemindedly devoted himself to subverting the conventions and expectations of social mores and narrative cinema alike. He started out as assistant to Georges Lautner on movies starring his father, Bernard, then made his debut directing the latter in 1967’s If I Were a Spy. But it wasn’t until the 1972 publication of his first novel Les Valseuses that Blier found his cinematic voice, adapting and directing the movie version, known by its English-language title Going Places. By decade’s end, when Get Out Your Handkerchiefs won an Academy Award, Blier had hit his stride and filmgoers worldwide now knew what to expect from his polarizing, deeply perverse, and sometimes transgressive scenarios that consistently drew the cream of France’s acting talent. The Quad proffers a sampling of Blier’s bracing and playful provocations, culminating with an extended run of a new restoration of his Oscar winning breakthrough.

Past Screenings