Mezzanine, 2220 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA (2025)

09/26/2025

Tomorrow : a master of nonfiction and satire, Luc Moullet’s short films have an obvious through-line to modern independent filmmakers like John Wilson and Patrick Keiller, and he remains one of cinema’s finest chroniclers of urban and industrial spaces. These one-of-kind shorts range from hilarious essay-film lampoons of modern life, to a lush seaside Henry James adaptation.

THE SHORT FILMS OF LUC MOULLET

Saturday, Sept 27

doors/bar: 1:30pm
film: 2pm

La Valse des médias
1987, France, 27m

This typically clever work of cinematic sociology examines the modernization of public libraries in France and the rise of the media library. (Film at Lincoln Center)

Le Fantome de Longstaff
1996, France, 20m

This free adaptation of a short story by Henry James follows an ailing American woman who travels to Rome with a friend and encounters what appears to be the ghost of a man she knew years earlier. (Film at Lincoln Center)

Le Ventre de l’Amérique
1996, France, 25m

This signature documentary finds Moullet wishing to experience a United States beyond the usual fixation on New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco—and so he travels to Des Moines, Iowa, of all places. (Film at Lincoln Center)

Le Litre de lait
2006, France, 14m

In this foray into autobiography, a teenage boy is tasked with buying some milk from the wife of his mother’s lover. (Film at Lincoln Center)

Less and Less (Toujours moins)
2010, France, 14m

The follow-up to More and More comically probes the sometimes convenient, sometimes baffling automation of modern life. (Film at Lincoln Center)

Total runtime: 100m

09/20/2025

PARPAILLON (UP AND DOWN) 🚴🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️
directed by Luc Moullet
1993, France, 84m, DCP

Closing night of our retrospective, presented with !

doors: 4:30pm
film: 5pm

“There are doubtless few films that (in a minor key) are as innovative, as funny, as intelligent, as true and as free as PARPAILLON.” -Fabien Boully, Rouge

One of his most gag-filled features, Luc Moullet excels at capturing absurd observations of human behavior, and no setting is more ripe for this practice than the bike race at Parpaillon, a remote mountain pass in the French Alps. Moullet portrays vast ensemble of riders throughout the ascent, each offering a unique perspective of why they have taken on this gruelling task. Is it for sport? Tourism? Madness? Here, Moullet has considered every possibility for absurdity, assembling the most revealing and surreal, and more importantly, the silliest. At its heart, PARPAILLON delights in the gag for its own sake. -Becca Rieckmann, Mezzanine

In French with English subtitles. A Cinema Guild release.

Preceded by:

L’EMPIRE DE MEDOR
1986, France, 13m

An absurdist exploration of the exalted position dogs hold in society.

Total runtime: 97m

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

09/11/2025

Two cinephiles, three opinions. Form your own this weekend at our double-bill of Luc Moullet’s first two features, BRIGITTE AND BRIGITTE (1966) and THE SMUGGLERS (1967), both beautifully restored in 4K from !

Saturday, September 13

doors: 2:30pm
film: 3pm

BRIGITTE AND BRIGITTE
directed by Luc Moullet
1966, France, 76m, DCP

Brand-new 4K restoration!

“Luc Moullet’s shaggy-dog debut [feature] —hailed by Jean-Luc Godard as ‘revolutionary’—is an exemplary work of the Nouvelle Vague at the crest of its influence and renown. Two girls with the same name (Françoise Vatel and Colette Descombes) become roommates after separately arriving in Paris to attend university, and although they hail from different regions in France, the fads and trends of their day have shaped them similarly. An episodic delight suffused with strong early indications of Moullet’s wit, charm, and sense of the place of the absurd within the everyday, Brigitte et Brigitte also features memorable performances from Moullet’s New Wave cohort Claude Chabrol, Éric Rohmer, and a young André Téchiné, and as well as the legendary Samuel Fuller, himself a crucial inspiration for the Cahiers du cinéma contingent.” -Film at Lincoln Center

followed by:

THE SMUGGLERS (Les contrebandières)
directed by Luc Moullet
1967, France, 80m, DCP

Brand-new 4K restoration!

“A truly singular object that is both a loving spoof of Hollywood-style action thrillers and a sociological send-up of the burgeoning student movement, The Smugglers follows two women (Françoise Vatel and Monique Thiriet) who work on the French side of the border in the Southern Alps running goods (and people). When the two women discover that they’re both romantically involved with the same man, a delirious threeway chase ensues that will find our heroines (and their two-timing third) running afoul of state officials and underworld figures alike. Also notable for inaugurating Luc Moullet’s career-spanning interest in landscape, not so much as background but rather as still another character in the farce we call ‘life’.” -Film at Lincoln Center

Total runtime: 155m

09/06/2025

A GIRL IS A GUN (Une aventure de Billy le Kid)
directed by Luc Moullet
1971, France, 79m, DCP

Brand new 4K restoration from !

Sunday, Sept 14

doors: 4pm
film: 4:30pm

“The vistas are so breathtaking and the colors so gorgeous they make his meager budget irrelevant.” -Jonathan Rosenbaum

Luc Moullet’s beautifully shot third feature (his first to be released internationally) is a gonzo New Wave Western pastiche that inscribes itself in a long lineage of French auteurs exploring and subverting American culture. The film cleverly hijacks a classic Western plot – the vengeful chase of an uncivilized thief (Jean-Pierre Léaud) by bounty hunters and otherworldly men – and inserts a woman (Rachel Kest) in the equation, whose presence upends all of our narrative and ultimately social expectations. Somewhat more philosophical, romantic and defiant than its Italian counterpart, the Spaghetti Western, Moullet’s film is invigorated both by Jean Eustache’s tight editing and a hallucinatory and often offbeat soundtrack by Moullet’s brother Patrice, and is a balancing act of dissonance and conformity – the latter made possible by Moullet’s decision to shoot in the so-called “Provençal Colorado” in Luberon, France, an area almost indiscernible from the legendary far-west American topography, which had rarely if ever been used in French films. -Pauline Kraatz, Mezzanine

“Like a Hollywood B western directed by a French outsider artist, Luc Moullet’s psychotropic oater stars Jean-Pierre Léaud as Billy the Kid in a wild comic performance that’s equal parts Clint Eastwood and Three Stooges.” -Film at Lincoln Center

“A comedy of camera mismanagement…. Only with closer scrutiny does it become apparent that Moullet’s seemingly slapdash approach conceals a sort of precision … It’s a masterpiece, only turned inside out.” -Nick Pinkerton, Reverse Shot

Preceded by:

OVERDONE STEAK (Un steak trop cuit)
1960, France, 19m, DCP

In Moullet’s directorial debut, two siblings argue about—what else—what’s for dinner. -Film at Lincoln Center

Total runtime: 98m

08/28/2025

THE COMEDY OF WORK (La comédie du travail)
directed by Luc Moullet
1987, France, 85m, DCP

Saturday, Sept 20

doors: 4pm
film: 4:30pm

In this absurdist comedy, set in France’s ‘80s period of economic austerity, Moullet stages a series of gags about the culture of work and welfare in France. Among these is the story of a job counselor (Sabine Haudepin) who falls in love with an “unemployed professional” and decides to seduce him by offering him a managerial position—at the expense of an overly-qualified and career-obsessed man laid-off that same day. No one is spared in this lucid, cruel dance of failed expectations and grotesque ideologies. Moullet (who cameos as a character named “Mr. Unemployed”) employs a tone of light-hearted derision rather than somber indignation. Every frame is delightfully crafted and offers some respite, in spite of a subject that teeters on the edge of tragic. -Pauline Kraatz, Mezzanine

Screening as part of Luc Moullet: Hardly Working, a retrospective running Sept 9-28.

“A dryly comic investigation into the contradictions and indignities of modern labor, and might be Moullet’s most incisive work.” -Film at Lincoln Center

Preceded by:

BARRES
1984, France, 14m
In this endlessly inventive short, Moullet portrays all the ways one can get onto the Paris Metro without paying.

Total runtime: 100m

08/25/2025

Just announced: we are publishing a limited-edition Luc Moullet zine, featuring original essays by film critics Beatrice Loayza and Will Sloan , on occasion of retrospective in September. 📚

Copies are now available for pre-order on our online store, and will also be on sale in-person at screenings while supplies last. Each sale supports our mission of providing a dynamic space for arthouse and independent cinema in Los Angeles.

LUC MOULLET: HARDLY WORKING runs September 9 - 28. Tickets and series information available at mezzaninefilm.com.

08/23/2025

On Saturday, September 13, we present a double-bill of Luc Moullet’s first two features—BRIGITTE AND BRIGITTE and THE SMUGGLERS—in brand-new 4K restorations from , both underseen absurdist classics of the French New Wave. 🇫🇷

Saturday, September 13

doors: 2:30pm
film: 3pm

BRIGITTE AND BRIGITTE
directed by Luc Moullet
1966, France, 76m, DCP

Brand-new 4K restoration!

“Luc Moullet’s shaggy-dog debut [feature] —hailed by Jean-Luc Godard as ‘revolutionary’—is an exemplary work of the Nouvelle Vague at the crest of its influence and renown. Two girls with the same name (Françoise Vatel and Colette Descombes) become roommates after separately arriving in Paris to attend university, and although they hail from different regions in France, the fads and trends of their day have shaped them similarly. An episodic delight suffused with strong early indications of Moullet’s wit, charm, and sense of the place of the absurd within the everyday, Brigitte et Brigitte also features memorable performances from Moullet’s New Wave cohort Claude Chabrol, Éric Rohmer, and a young André Téchiné, and as well as the legendary Samuel Fuller, himself a crucial inspiration for the Cahiers du cinéma contingent.” -Film at Lincoln Center

followed by:

THE SMUGGLERS (Les contrebandières)
directed by Luc Moullet
1967, France, 80m, DCP

Brand-new 4K restoration!

“A truly singular object that is both a loving spoof of Hollywood-style action thrillers and a sociological send-up of the burgeoning student movement, The Smugglers follows two women (Françoise Vatel and Monique Thiriet) who work on the French side of the border in the Southern Alps running goods (and people). When the two women discover that they’re both romantically involved with the same man, a delirious threeway chase ensues that will find our heroines (and their two-timing third) running afoul of state officials and underworld figures alike. Also notable for inaugurating Luc Moullet’s career-spanning interest in landscape, not so much as background but rather as still another character in the farce we call ‘life’.” -Film at Lincoln Center

Total runtime: 155m

08/20/2025

ORIGINS OF A MEAL (Genèse d’un repas)
directed by Luc Moullet
1978, France, 115m, DCP

Brand new 4K restoration! Screening as part of Luc Moullet: Hardly Working, a Mezzanine retrospective.

Thursday, September 11

doors/bar 7:30
film 8:00

Luc Moullet turns his typically incisive gaze onto something deceptively simple: his own plate. In his groundbreaking, first feature-length documentary, Moullet deftly traces the process of how workers are exploited and capital is extracted in the process of getting food to our tables. Without overt critique (but with his regular injections of humor and charm), he juxtaposes the sanitized rhetoric of businessmen and managers with the stark realities of workers, and takes the opportunity to implicate both the viewer (and especially himself) in maintaining this system. ORIGINS OF A MEAL may make your next trip to the grocery store a little more troubling - as it perhaps should be.

In French with English subtitles. A Cinema Guild release.

“With ORIGINS OF A MEAL, an insightful documentary about the globalization of the economy and the metamorphic nature of colonial and imperialist pursuits, Luc Moullet grasps the inadequacy of old models and forms of militant cinema to accommodate the non-binary nature of the current global system, and the necessarily subjective and personal implication of the filmmaker.” - Audrey Evrard, Jump Cut

Preceded by:

MORE AND MORE (Toujours plus)
1994, France, 24m, DCP

“Moullet examines what just may be the cathedral of high-consumerism and, by extension, capitalist society: the modern supermarket.” -Film at Lincoln Center

Total runtime: 139m

08/16/2025

ANATOMY OF A RELATIONSHIP
a film by by Luc Moullet & Antonietta Pizzorno
1976, France, 82m, DCP

Brand new 4K restoration!

Opening night of Luc Moullet: Hardly Working, a retrospective running Sept 9-28.

Tuesday, September 9

doors/bar 7:30
film 8:00

In this autofiction masterpiece, Luc Moullet himself (in the first of many appearances in his own films) portrays a boorish filmmaker struggling to get his next film made while unable to s*xually satisfy his girlfriend (Christine Hébert), whose intellectual awakening seems to further spell the death knell of their relationship. Frank and dryly hilarious, the film was co-directed by Moullet and his real-life wife and creative partner Antoinetta Pizzorno, and its many cringe-inducing, all-too-recognizable scenarios carry on the tradition of metafictional totems like DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY and exemplify the cannibalizing labor and frustration of a life lived in independent film.

In French with English subtitles. A Cinema Guild release.

“Provides a succinct introduction to [Moullet’s] special brand of low-budget cinema. A restaging of his abortive s*xual relationship with Antonietta Pizzorno (who cowrote and codirected but, unlike Moullet, appears only in the finale), it’s painfully, hilariously, and graphically honest, and its willful rejection of technique is an implicit critique of slickness.” -Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Preceded by:

ESSAI D’OUVERTURE (TRYING TO OPEN)
1988, France, 14m, DCP

Wherein Moullet struggles to open a bottle of Coke.

Total runtime: 96m

Tickets and full retrospective details available at mezzaninefilm.com.

08/11/2025

LUC MOULLET: HARDLY WORKING
a retrospective 🇫🇷👴🏻😎

8 screenings including brand-new 4K restorations courtesy of !

Sept 9-28
+

Our first-ever retrospective is a salute to France’s consummate working-class independent filmmaker and film critic, whose many odes to the value of amateurism—in life, work, industry, and relationships—comprises an oeuvre of brilliance.

On the eve of his 88th birthday, we are thrilled to present the majority of his features and short films, across two venues, throughout September. Tickets and schedule now available at mezzaninefilm.com.

The last living member of the French New Wave, Luc Moullet began as a critic at Cahiers du cinéma (the first to champion B-movie masters Samuel Fuller and Edgar Ulmer) before embarking on a prodigiously active filmmaking career in irreverent fictions, reflexive documentaries, and the in-between, where Moullet himself often appears on screen. At once earnest and sardonic, Moullet’s films (nearly all of them self-produced) play like driest of black comedies, chronicling the absurdities of life under capitalism with a sober glance. A master of nonfiction and satire who prefers the vantage point of the pedestrian on the street, Moullet’s shoestring cinema has an obvious through-line to modern filmmakers like John Wilson and Patrick Keiller, and remains one of cinema’s finest chroniclers of urban and industrial spaces – despite the vast majority of his films remaining undistributed in the U.S. until now.

While many of these restorations premiered in L.A. at the earlier this year, we have endeavored to revive them in tandem with ’s current retrospective, and provide another chance for L.A. audiences to enjoy and appreciate Moullet’s work.

“You will never find craggier, funnier, more brilliantly lo-fi and completely idiosyncratic comedies.” -MUBI Notebook

“The most important filmmaker of the French post-Godard generation.”
—Jean-Marie Straub

Special thanks to Ed McCarry (Cinema Guild), Dan Sullivan (Film at Lincoln Center), Becca Rieckmann, Pauline Kraatz, Bobby Sheppard, Gal Amiram, Alex Gootter and Gaël Teicher.

08/05/2025

ONDA NOVA (New Wave) ⚽️💋
directed by Ícaro Martins & José Antonio Garcia
1983, Brazil, 103m, DCP

U.S. premiere of a new 4K restoration, presented with

Sunday, August 17

doors/bar: 7:00
film: 7:30

A defiantly q***r, anarchic, one-of-a-kind s*x comedy, the Brazilian cult film ONDA NOVA follows a ragtag team of female footballers as they navigate their dreams and desires, set against the backdrop of the country’s conservative military dictatorship. Made when women’s soccer had just been unbanned, the film’s characters sport eclectic ‘80s ensembles as they train, argue with their parents, make love, and party hard, often getting into sticky situations (but sliding out of them just as breezily). Yet beneath their fearless personas, they begin to feel isolated, knowing their youthful utopia is starting to run dry. Never before screened in the U.S., ONDA NOVA was banned upon its premiere and only released a year later after a legal battle, which compromised its chance at international success. Now newly restored, it can be appreciated as a uniquely transgressive gem, and a must-see for fans of ‘80s s*xploitation and q***r independent cinema.

In Portuguese with English subtitles. A SPAMFLIX release. Special thanks to Julia Duarte and Becca Rieckmann.

Official Selection: Locarno Film Festival 2024, Q***r Lisboa, São Paulo International Film Festival, Jeonju International Film Festival

Poster graphic by

“Remains transgressive, lively and full of unbridled desire.” -Daniel Allen, Loud & Clear

“Women’s soccer [is] a starting point for a movie that plays around [with] all forms of liberation, including its own anything-goes approach. Everyone involved seems to be having a great time, and the filmmakers never pass at any idea, be it comic or dramatic.” -Filipe Furtado

ONDA NOVA has been restored as part of the project .do.desejo (“Cinema of Desire”)—an effort to restore 4 films of the Brazilian directors Ícaro Martins and José Antonio Garcia made in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

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