An Evening with Arnaud Desplechin: Mississippi Mermaid

Part of BAMcinemaFEST

Wed, Jul 1 at 9:30pm*
*Introduced by director Arnaud Desplechin

Directed by François Truffaut
With Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Belmondo

1969, 123 min

One of the most acclaimed contemporary French directors, Arnaud Desplechin (A Christmas Tale, Kings and Queen) received his first US retrospective at BAM in April 2005. We are thrilled to welcome him back to discuss two of his favorite films, The Royal Tenenbaums and Mississippi Mermaid.

When isolated tobacco farmer Louis (Belmondo) meets his mail-order bride Julie (Deneuve), he's unsure this beautiful woman is the same one he has been corresponding with by letter and only seen in photographs. Ignoring his doubts, he falls head over heels for her and the two begin a life together...until the day the mysterious Julie disappears with a large portion of Louis' assets. Based on a book by William Irish entitled Waltz Into Darkness (also the source writer for Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black), this tale of sexual obsession and betrayal unfolds in the lush tropical landscape of Africa's Reunion Island. Truffaut draws on themes and conventions of American noir, while peppering Mississippi Mermaid with eclectic allusions to film and literature—Renoir, Ray, Balzac. In French with English subtitles.

BAMcinématek will screen Mississippi Mermaid in a week-long run from July 17-23.