Etaix
and a Half
Pierre Etaix
14:42
In
1963, the year I graduated high school, Pierre Etaix and Federico
Fellini were exhibiting their films in Europe. A Frenchman, Etaix
co-wrote, directed and acted in his first film, "Happy
Anniversary". Fellini, from Italy, was concocting his eighth and
half feature film, unsurprisingly called "Fellini's 8
1/2".
Etaix, a circus clown, understood Fellini's expansion of cinema's visual horizons and payed homage to Fellini's "La Strada" as well as "8 1/2" in the Frenchman's feature "Yo Yo" (1965). It is not coincidental that Fellini also shared Etaix's esteem for clowning and mime. Fellini devoted a segment of The Clowns (1970) to Etaix and his wife Gustave Fratellini.
My high school friend Gretchen Green dragged me to see "8 1/2" after we graduated and it changed my life. Up to that point, I'd only seen Hollywood movies -- and a lot of them. I worked as an usher at a large Lowe's Theater, which featured first-run Hollywood fare.
Etaix, a circus clown, understood Fellini's expansion of cinema's visual horizons and payed homage to Fellini's "La Strada" as well as "8 1/2" in the Frenchman's feature "Yo Yo" (1965). It is not coincidental that Fellini also shared Etaix's esteem for clowning and mime. Fellini devoted a segment of The Clowns (1970) to Etaix and his wife Gustave Fratellini.
My high school friend Gretchen Green dragged me to see "8 1/2" after we graduated and it changed my life. Up to that point, I'd only seen Hollywood movies -- and a lot of them. I worked as an usher at a large Lowe's Theater, which featured first-run Hollywood fare.
Unfortunately Etaix films were not widely distributed at the time, and a legal dispute -- only recently resolved -- kept his work out of circulation. For half a century, the genius of Etaix was unknown to even avid cinema students, certainly here in the USA.
If you're interested in more than just clips of these films, you can find complete features and shorts of Etaix on DVD, see:
http://www.criterion.com/bo......
For Fellini's major works, see:
http://www.criterion.com/ex......
Turner Classic Movies also recently premiered several films by Etaix on broadcast tv, and you may ask to be notified of future airings of his work by contacting this link:http://www.tcm.com/
We would not be seeing any of these films were it not for the dedication collaboration among Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and Studio 37 which combined to restore the films of Etaix.
For more information of Etaix, see my earlier post:
http://jamiejobbbackstagepass.blogspot.com/2015/09/run-away-to-circus.html
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