Word: gabin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...French Cancan (1955), on the opening night of the club Moulin Rouge, Nini (Francoise Arnoul) the star dancer refuses to perform when she sees the owner, Danglar (Jean Gabin) being unfaithful with the star singer. Ordered from her locked dressing room by her mother, she states that she will only dance if Danglar promises to dismiss his other mistresses. Danglar, pinned to the wall, stammers what we had suspected all along: Nini could never keep him tied down; his life is the theatre and he loves only what he creates, while he is creating it. "You!" he says, pointing...
Although Barrault's and Gabin's performances contribute, as does the magnificent photography (note how in French Cancan, Renoir recreates his father's Impressionist pastels), the real greatness of these two films is perhaps undefinable. As the characters move toward one or another stage of self-realization, Renoir's films take on an even larger, universal significance. His spirit, his ability to create characters through use of clear, almost divine, light give his films an aura of undeniable truth, as if he were a Biblical prophet, telling us the word...
Belmondo is Gabin's successor as the troubled young tough guy of the French cinema. But cast together, each has stepped out of basic snarl. Gabin is a mellowed inn-keeper, content with the quiet life of his tiny Tigreville. And Belmondo--the nihilistic punk of "Breathless"--is a harried advertising man who hits the bottle more often than any girl friend...
...clear from the start that the two will go on some sort of bender before the end ,(it's a beauty when it comes), but even before then Gabin and Belmondo have bounced their personalities off each other to fine effect. At one points the latently alcoholic Gabin and the actively drunk Belmondo compare the far-flung fantasies each has known while drunk. In doing so, they display both a humor and quiet intensity that rises from more than what they actually do or say. They ("the nobility of drunkards") share an understanding the audience is also allowed to comprehend...
...than an appreciation of booze, "Monkey in Winter" is a gentle plea for understanding the dreams some men have. They will wake up to reality by themselves, despite the occasional crutch of liquor, but why burst a bubble before then. Beyond the simple message is simple fun. Belmondo and Gabin together for the first time--and drunk to boot. It couldn't miss, and it doesn...