Films On the Green presents six movies inspired by French musicals or adaptation of an Opera in the parks throughout NYC. Those free screenings are organized by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.
DATE LOCATION MOVIE June 11 8:30pm
(rain date June 12)Central Park – Cedar Hill
(79th St & 5th Ave)The Young Girls of Rochefort June 18 8:30pm Washington Square Park 8 Women June 25 8:30pm Washington Square Park Same Old Songs July 02 8:30pm Tompkins Square Park A Woman is a Woman July 09 8:30pm Tompkins Square Park Love Songs July 16 8:30pm Central Park – Cedar Hill
(79th St & 5th Ave)Tosca: the Movie
The Young Girls of Rochefort is a classic of French cinema starring Gene Kelly and George Chakiris (of West Side Story fame) opposite Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac. The film’s score, by Michel Legrand, was nominated for an Oscar in 1969. A dark musical comedy, 8 Women boasts a first-rate cast of many of France’s finest female actresses, including Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, and Emmanuelle Béart. This over-the-top parody of murder mysteries was nominated for 12 Césars in 2003. Same Old Songsfeatures an interesting twist: the actors lip-synch to songs performed by the original artists, making for unusual juxtapositions (of a female character singing in a male voice, for instance). The movie won Best Film at the 1998 César Awards. One of Jean-Luc Godard’s first movies, and undoubtedly one of his most playful, A Woman is a Woman is a tender tribute to childishness and to American musicals—but with a distinct New Wave flair! Love Songs , about youths coping with the loss of a loved one, also parts ways with tradition: its use of the romantic and comedic elements of the musical contrasts with its serious storyline. To cap it all off in style, the series will end with Tosca: the Movie . Tosca is not an opera performance captured on film, but rather the opera adapted for film, starring celebrated opera singers Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna. It is a must-see for both opera aficionados and novices.