09/16/2025
This Sunday at 3pm , don’t miss a double-feature of the inimitable French director Luc Moullet’s movies about movies—including his quintessential satire of culture of Parisian cinephilia, THE SEATS OF THE ALCAZAR (1989), paired with DEATH’S GLAMOUR (2006), his more personal, self-reflexive meditation on cinema and filmmaking.
THE SEATS OF THE ALCAZAR (Les sièges de l’Alcazar)
directed by Luc Moullet
1989, 54m, France, DCP
doors/bar: 2:30pm
films: 3pm
Among the most moving and delightful films ever made about the love of movies, Moullet’s satirical look at the culture of Parisian cinephilia is a hilarious lampooning of idiosyncratic viewing habits and obsessions, stemming from his own time-worn observations. The film revolves around a Cahiers du Cinéma film critic who embarks on a mission to write about the Vittorio Cottafavi film retrospective at his local cinema—that is, until he spots Jeanne, a critic from rival film publication Positif, who is planning her own hit-piece on the Italian filmmaker.
“Moullet has always balanced his compulsions with comedy, and Les Sièges de l’Alcazar stands out as one of his finest works of self-parody.” -Le Cinéma Club
“Ranks among the most profound and insightful meditations on movie love in [Moullet’s] eclectic filmography.” -Film at Lincoln Center
Followed by:
DEATH’S GLAMOUR a.k.a. THE PRESTIGE OF DEATH (Le prestige de la mort)
directed by Luc Moullet
2006, France, 72m, DCP
“Luc Moullet contemplates the twilight of his career—and his own mortality—in this comic pseudo-documentary, a characteristically charming, satirical, and yet intellectually serious inquiry into the struggle against ‘the end.’ The film follows Moullet, playing a magnetic self-caricature, as he endeavors to rejuvenate his career and win over a whole new audience… by faking his own death, swapping his passport with that of a dead body he stumbles upon. An extremely free remake of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Whispering Chorus (1917), The Prestige of Death ranks among Moullet’s most personal and profound meditations on cinema and filmmaking.” -Film at Lincoln Center
Total runtime: 126m
