It’s summer time, and the living is easy: at least if you’re young, beautiful, and in a film by Jacques Rozier. The veteran French director, who died this June aged 96, left behind a small but lucid body of films that was as radical as his New Wave contemporaries but imbued with a fizzing spontaneity that was very much his own. Rozier pushed at the seams of improvisation in his productions, a commitment that he confessed to sometimes taking “too far.” Just how far he took this premise is not always evident from the films themselves, which effortlessly unfold across a series of naturalistic tableaus that ache with the joys and disappointments of youth. Shooting on location using young, nonprofessional actors, as well as making the most of post sync sound—that triumvirate of techniques he picked up from Italian neorealism—Rozier crafted an extraordinary freshness that saturated his films, like watching life unfolding right before your eyes. Many of Rozier’s works were inspired by the loose loveliness of summer, a time when the pursuit of pleasure is paramount, and when young love has the opportunity to ripen like grapes on the vine.
A vital capsule of midcentury leisure time, here newly restored, the charming early short Blue Jeans (1958) follows a pair of young men as they cruise down the Cannes promenades, dog whistling girls, riding on their Vespas, and making out passionately on the beach. A sun-soaked delight, it presaged the youthful vitality of his debut feature Adieu Philippine (1962), which dives right in the middle of a spontaneous sojourn for a threesome in Corsica. A looser-limbed predecessor to Jean-Luc Godard’s iconic Band of Outsiders (1964), Godard heralded it as “the youngest film of the New Wave.” Shot during the filming of Godard’s Contempt (1963), Paparazzi (1964) was Jacques Rozier’s kaleidoscopic collage of Brigitte Bardot. Zooming in on the emergent phenomenon of the paparazzi, Rozier offers a playful critique of celebrity culture and a prescient look at the corrosive powers of the media. Unfairly overlooked in the pantheon of French New Wave mavericks, Rozier’s sunkissed and feel-good films are juicily ripe for reappraisal.

It&#8217;s summer time, and the living is easy: at least if you&#8217;re young, beautiful, and in a film by Jacques Rozier. The veteran French director, who died this June aged 96, left behind a small but lucid body of films that was as radical as his New Wave contemporaries but imbued with a fizzing spontaneity that was very much his own. Rozier pushed at the seams of improvisation in his productions, a commitment that he confessed to sometimes taking &#8220;too far.&#8221; Just how far he took this premise is not always evident from the films themselves, which effortlessly unfold across a series of naturalistic tableaus that ache with the joys and disappointments of youth. Shooting on location using young, nonprofessional actors, as well as making the most of post sync sound&#8212;that triumvirate of techniques he picked up from Italian neorealism&#8212;Rozier crafted an extraordinary freshness that saturated his films, like watching life unfolding right before your eyes. Many of Rozier&#8217;s works were inspired by the loose loveliness of summer, a time when the pursuit of pleasure is paramount, and when young love has the opportunity to ripen like grapes on the vine.
A vital capsule of midcentury leisure time, here newly restored, the charming early short Blue Jeans (1958) follows a pair of young men as they cruise down the Cannes promenades, dog whistling girls, riding on their Vespas, and making out passionately on the beach. A sun-soaked delight, it presaged the youthful vitality of his debut feature Adieu Philippine (1962), which dives right in the middle of a spontaneous sojourn for a threesome in Corsica. A looser-limbed predecessor to Jean-Luc Godard&#8217;s iconic Band of Outsiders (1964), Godard heralded it as &#8220;the youngest film of the New Wave.&#8221; Shot during the filming of Godard&#8217;s Contempt (1963), Paparazzi (1964) was Jacques Rozier&#8217;s kaleidoscopic collage of Brigitte Bardot. Zooming in on the emergent phenomenon of the paparazzi, Rozier offers a playful critique of celebrity culture and a prescient look at the corrosive powers of the media. Unfairly overlooked in the pantheon of French New Wave mavericks, Rozier&#8217;s sunkissed and feel-good films are juicily ripe for reappraisal.

Sea, Sex and Sun:  Films by Jacques Rozier

SEA, SEX AND SUN:  FILMS BY JACQUES ROZIER

It’s summer time, and the living is easy: at least if you’re young, beautiful, and in a film by Jacques Rozier. The veteran French director, who died this June, crafted a small body of films committed to the premise of improvisation, and which are sun-kissed, playful, and simply bursting with life.

It&#8217;s summer time, and the living is easy: at least if you&#8217;re young, beautiful, and in a film by Jacques Rozier. The veteran French director, who died this June, crafted a small body of films committed to the premise of improvisation, and which are sun-kissed, playful, and simply bursting with life.