The Immortal Story | |
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![]() Spanish theatrical poster | |
Directed by | Orson Welles |
Screenplay by | Louise de Vilmorin Orson Welles |
Based on | The Immortal Story by Karen Blixen |
Produced by | Micheline Rozan |
Starring | Jeanne Moreau Orson Welles Roger Coggio Norman Eshley |
Cinematography | Willy Kurant |
Edited by | Claude Farny Françoise Garnault Yolande Maurette Marcelle Pluet |
Distributed by | Altura Films S.L. (US) Omnia-Film (world) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 48 mins (French version) 60 mins (English version) |
Country | France |
Languages | English French |
The Immortal Story (French : Une histoire immortelle) is a 1968 French film directed by Orson Welles and starring Jeanne Moreau. The film was originally broadcast on French television and was later released in theatres. It was based on a short story by the Danish writer Karen Blixen (more widely known by her pen name Isak Dinesen). With a running time of sixty minutes, it is the shortest feature film directed by Welles.
In nineteenth-century Macao, Mr. Clay (Orson Welles) is a wealthy merchant at the end of his life. His only constant companion is his book-keeper, a Polish-Jewish emigrant named Levinsky (Roger Coggio). One evening, while reading to Clay before bed, Levinsky recites a prophecy by Isaiah. Clay declares his hatred of prophecies and begins to tell a story he once heard on a ship of a rich old man who offers a sailor five guineas to impregnate his wife, however Levinsky completes the story, having heard it himself from multiple other seamen. Clay becomes obsessed in making that legendary tale come true, and Levinsky is dispatched to find a sailor and a young woman who will play the part of Clay’s wife.
Levinsky approaches Virginie (Jeanne Moreau), the daughter of Clay’s one-time business partner. Clay’s ruthless dealings drove Virginie’s father to bankruptcy and suicide, and she is eager to participate in this action to get her revenge. The destitute sailor, a young Dane named Paul (Norman Eshley) recently rescued from a desert island, is discovered on the street and recruited. Having heard the story himself as well, Paul at first refuses to participate, but agrees when Clay reminds him that he needs the money.
Virginie and Paul find an emotional bond in their brief union, but go their separate ways – Virginie is exorcised of her bitterness against Clay while Paul disappears into Macao’s teeming streets. Before doing so, he asks Clay to give Virginie a shell he found on his desert island that will play a “song” if she holds it to her ear. Levinsky goes to inform Clay about what took place, but discovers the old merchant has died. He puts Paul’s shell to his ear, and remarks to Virginie that he has heard the song before but cannot remember from where. [1]
Orson Welles was a self-professed admirer of the writing of Karen Blixen and, at one point, announced plans to create a series of films based on her writing. [2] The Immortal Story is a short story first published in Blixen's 1958 short story collection Anecdotes of Destiny . Originally The Immortal Story was meant to be half of a two-part anthology film, with the second half based on the Blixen story The Deluge at Nordenay. However, the second film was cancelled when Welles raised concerns about the professionalism of his crew in Budapest, Hungary, where production was to have taken place. [3]
Welles received financing from l'Office de Radio-Télévision Française to create The Immortal Story for premiere presentation on French television, to be followed by theatrical release in France and other countries. As part of the financing, Welles was contractually obligated to shoot the film in color. Welles was not a fan of color cinematography, and in one interview he stated: "Color enhances the set, the scenery, the costumes, but mysteriously enough it only detracts from the actors. Today it is impossible to name one outstanding performance by an actor in a color film." [4]
Much of the film was shot in Welles’ home in Chinchón, a small location outside of Madrid, Spain. [5] The location for the port of Macao was the main square of Chinchón, and other exterior scenes depicting the Portuguese-built city in China were also shot in the nearby towns of Pedraza, Brihuega and Valdemoro. Welles used Chinese restaurant waiters from Madrid as extras to recreate the setting for Macao. [3]
The Immortal Story was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film Festival in June 1968. The film had its U.S. premiere at the 1968 New York Film Festival. In February 1969, it had its U.S. theatrical release on a double feature bill with Luis Buñuel's Simon of the Desert . [6]
On 30 August 2016, The Immortal Story was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the U.S. by the Criterion Collection. [7]
The Adventures of Harry Lime is an old-time radio programme produced in the United Kingdom during the 1951 to 1952 season. Orson Welles reprises his role of Harry Lime from the celebrated 1949 film The Third Man. The radio series is a prequel to the film, and depicts the many misadventures of con-artist Lime in a somewhat lighter tone than that of the film.
Jeanne Moreau was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. Moreau began playing small roles in films in 1949, later achieving prominence with starring roles in Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows (1958), Michelangelo Antonioni's La Notte (1961), and François Truffaut's Jules et Jim (1962). Most prolific during the 1960s, Moreau continued to appear in films into her 80s. Orson Welles called her "the greatest actress in the world".
A Woman Is a Woman is a 1961 French musical romantic comedy film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina and Jean-Claude Brialy. It is a tribute to American musical comedy and associated with the French New Wave. It is Godard's third feature film, and his first in color and Cinemascope.
Fernando Casado Arambillet, best known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish film, theatre, and television actor, who worked in both Europe and the United States. A suave, international actor best known for his roles in the films of surrealist director Luis Buñuel and as the drug lord Alain Charnier in The French Connection (1971) and French Connection II (1975), he appeared in more than 150 films over half a century.
Oja Kodar is a Croatian actress, screenwriter and director known as Orson Welles's romantic partner during the later years of his life.
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The Bride Wore Black is a 1968 French drama thriller film directed by François Truffaut and based on the novel of the same name by William Irish, a pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich. It stars Jeanne Moreau, Charles Denner, Alexandra Stewart, Michel Bouquet, Michael Lonsdale, Claude Rich and Jean-Claude Brialy. The costumes were by Pierre Cardin.
Diary of a Chambermaid is a 1964 drama film directed by Spanish-born filmmaker Luis Buñuel and starring Jeanne Moreau as a Parisian chambermaid who uses her body and wiles to navigate the perversion, corruption, and violence she encounters at the provincial estate where she goes to work. Though highly satirical and reflective of his typical anti-bourgeois sentiments, it is one of Buñuel's more realistic films, and generally avoids the outlandish surrealist imagery and far-fetched plot twists found in many of his other works. The film was the first screenwriting collaboration between Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière, who extensively reworked the 1900 novel of the same name by Octave Mirbeau. Buñuel and Carrière would go on to collaborate on Belle de Jour (1967), The Milky Way (1969), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), The Phantom of Liberty (1974) and That Obscure Object of Desire (1977).
The Trial is a 1962 drama film written and directed by Orson Welles, based on the 1925 posthumously published novel of the same name by Franz Kafka. Welles stated immediately after completing the film: "The Trial is the best film I have ever made". The film begins with Welles narrating Kafka's parable "Before the Law" to pinscreen scenes created by the artists Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker.
Norman Eshley is an English actor best known for his television roles.
Dead Calm is a 1963 novel by Charles F. Williams. It was the basis for the unfinished Orson Welles film The Deep, was adapted by Phillip Noyce as the film Dead Calm (1989), and is the sequel to Williams' lesser-known romantic thriller Aground (1960).
Simon of the Desert is a 1965 Mexican surrealist film directed by Luis Buñuel and starring Claudio Brook and Silvia Pinal. It is loosely based on the story of the ascetic 5th-century Syrian saint Simeon Stylites, who lived for 39 years on top of a pillar. The screenplay was co-written by Buñuel and his frequent collaborator Julio Alejandro.
The Lovers is a 1958 French drama film directed by Louis Malle which stars Jeanne Moreau, Alain Cuny, and Jean-Marc Bory. Based on the posthumously-published 1876 short story "Point de Lendemain" by Dominique Vivant (1747–1825), the film concerns a woman involved in adultery who rediscovers human love. The Lovers was Malle's second feature film, made when he was 25 years old. The film was a box-office hit in France when released theatrically, gaining 2,594,160 admissions in France alone. The film was highly controversial when released in the United States for its depiction of allegedly obscene material. At the 1958 Venice Film Festival, the film won the Special Jury Prize and was nominated for the Golden Lion.
Robinson Crusoe is a 1954 adventure film directed by Luis Buñuel, based on the 1719 novel of the same name by Daniel Defoe. It stars Dan O'Herlihy as Crusoe and Jaime Fernández as Friday. Both English and Spanish versions were produced, making it Buñuel's first English-language film.
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The Deep is an unfinished film directed by Orson Welles, based on Charles Williams' novel Dead Calm (1963), which was later adapted as an eponymous 1989 film. Welles produced and wrote The Deep, as well as played the role of Russ Brewer opposite Jeanne Moreau and Laurence Harvey.
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