The Catherine Deneuve List

[Pavel]

Not only have I not seen 10 Deneuve films I'd vote for, I'm pretty sure I haven't even seen 10 Deneuve films (embarrassed face). Apologies, will try to watch more stuff for the next project

[therewillbeblus]

I struggled to come up with ten movies as well, but in order to fulfill my ethos of list project participation I threw on a couple films I like at the end featuring Deneuve parts that, while small, I at least recalled to some degree. I wouldn't say they were particularly great perfs tho

[swo17]

Looking forward to seeing everyone's lists of films they remember her being in

[senseabove]

My problem was the opposite: there were a few movies I like and yet had somehow completely forgotten that that was her in them, so I wanted to rewatch them.

[Never Cursed]

Gosh, I agree that this project has been particularly arduous, but I'm still happy with my list

[zedz]

Has anybody who actually voted for her participated in this project? Somebody, somewhere must have wanted this to happen!

[senseabove]

I'm fairly sure she was one I ticked on the list, apparently over-estimating both how many of her movies I'd seen and how many I hadn't that are worth seeing...

I'm gonna try to squeeze the other Depleschin in and maybe finish a movie I fell asleep during the other night, and hopefully that will push me up to 10 that are at least movies I have seen and enjoy (even if I apparently kinda forgot she was in them).

[zedz]

I submitted a list, but it's not a Favourite Catherine Deneuve Films list. I could only manage a 'Ten Films I Like That Happen to Have Catherine Deneuve In Them' list, and that was a struggle.

Out of those ten:
Films on the list where Deneuve is a factor in me liking them: 1
Films I didn't actually remember Deneuve was in until I looked at IMDB, and still couldn't tell you what role she played: 2
Films on the list I only kinda like: 4 (i.e. I can't imagine them ever making any other list of favourite films, however constrained)

Should future votes be somehow handicapped to favour members who actually participate in list projects? This one was a complete debacle.

[therewillbeblus]

I'm admittedly not a fan of the Star projects overall, but one thing that's a bit different (and pretty cool) compared to the auteur/genre projects is that I see a greater flexibility for film-inclusion based on either the quality of the film itself or the performance, or even the use of 'star power' to influence the themes of the film. For example, I don't particularly like Belle de jour too much but Deneuve's star power undeniably makes it far more interesting than it would otherwise be, so it placed reasonably high for me- over films I adore where she's a throwaway character. So I suppose that's all to say you don't have to "enjoy" all the films on the list, as long as Deneuve's star power is utilized in a creative manner. That's rope I'm giving myself, at least

[Never Cursed]

Has anybody who actually voted for her participated in this project? Somebody, somewhere must have wanted this to happen!

I voted for her, but I voted for most of the international stars (and I really did not know much about her filmography at all, I just liked a couple of the movies I had seen her in at that point and wanted to know more). Even though the vast majority of what I saw were duds, I'm still glad overall I participated, in no small part because it compelled me to bump up A Christmas Tale and Les Demoiselles de Rochefort on my watchlist and seek out Satan Conduit Le Bal and Rois et Reine, all of which were fantastic and at least two of which are all-timers. It's been almost exactly a month since I saw Rochefort, and I'm still humming some of the music wherever I go...

[knives]

I think I voted for her and if so for similar reasons although I at least put my money where my mouth was.

[swo17]

I couldn't quite come up with 10 films so I gave my #1 slot to a bejeweled mirror emblazoned along the bottom with the word "YOU"

[domino harvey]

I’m up and we got all of 7 lists. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about this and all future lists, so for right now nothing is happening and all future lists are paused (NOT necessarily canceled), but some kind of more proper gauging/reconfirmation of interest will be occurring before any future non-decade list occurs. Go watch or rewatch a 60s film for now

[Matt]

We should start charging a small deposit from each participant at the start of a list project, to be kept in escrow and refunded only upon submission of a list. If no list is submitted, the coordinator/tabulator gets the dough.

[senseabove]

I’m up and we got all of 7 lists. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about this and all future lists, so for right now nothing is happening and all future lists are paused (NOT necessarily canceled), but some kind of more proper gauging/reconfirmation of interest will be occurring before any future non-decade list occurs. Go watch or rewatch a 60s film for now

I can't find a good gif of Fassbinder looking sad, so imagine one here.

Out of curiosity, what've been the number of lists for the other recent non-decade lists?

[DarkImbecile]

The First Features list had 20 responses (but that was after a delay after receiving fewer than 10 by the initial deadline), and the Cary Grant list had 18…

It feels like Deneuve was someone people wanted to explore and found wanting more than any kind of broader rejection of the Star List concept, though they do present difficulties that director and genre lists don’t.

[therewillbeblus]

It feels like Deneuve was someone people wanted to explore and found wanting more than any kind of broader rejection of the Star List concept, though they do present difficulties that director and genre lists don’t.

Probably a conversation to start up in the List Project thread, but I'd be curious to get a poll on members' motivation for participation on Star Lists vs. Auteur Lists, now that we've done a few of the former. It surely depends on the star, but it seemed like folks were on board for a "cool new idea" rather than as passionate to participate thus far, whereas most auteurs have garnered more enthusiasm. Everyone loves Grant (right?), and he has ten classic films easy that jump to mind when people think of Cary Grant, but I worry about Piccoli, for example, who is part of countless masterpieces but perhaps not considered a star or standout in them just like Deneuve wasn't. We have a whopping sample size of two, so not able to be extrapolated in the least, but I don't want list projects to die and if people are able to honestly say they are less likely to engage in star lists vs. auteur, or auteur vs. genre, perhaps that should be considered to keep this wonderful asset of the forum alive. It must be incredibly frustrating to put the effort into democratic ballots for these projects, creating the threads, rallying folks, etc. and keep coming up short, so whatever you decide is more than fair and understandable, domino

[domino harvey]

For those curious, 19 people expressed interest in a Deneuve list via the SurveyMonkey poll. That means barely more than 1 in 3 actually carried through. I'm not going to call anyone out because I know shit happens and it was a non-binding interest check, but it makes me very weary to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. I'm not sure what the solution is yet, but I'm open to ideas.

[Pavel]

I didn't participate in the Grant project despite really wanting to because I decided to tackle his entire filmography in chronological order and gave up after watching 25-30 predominantly awful films. In future projects I'll prioritize films I actually think I'll like (I wanted to do that with Deneuve but traveling, etc.). Also, and someone who has that info could correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I voted for anyone in the poll

[domino harvey]

Probably also worth pointing out that I'm happy to facilitate any list that the majority of participants actually want and will participate in, but assuming that they still happen, I'm not submitting a ballot for Fassbinder or Kurosawa, which means y'all are already down one ballot from someone who otherwise always contributes

[knives]

Might as well as post my list and pimp my letterboxd as an award for watching 13 films for the list.

[Matt]

Wow, even if the final list doesn’t come together, I’m pleased to know that Après Lui would not have been orphaned.

[Never Cursed]

My list:

1. A Christmas Tale
2. Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
3. Kings and Queen
4. Satan Conduit le Bal
5. Repulsion
6. The Hunger
7. The Truth
8. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
9. Un Flic
10. Pola X

out of 24 seen. Largest blind spots are The Brand New Testament, the Ruizes, and the Oliveiras. Don't like any of the films she's in directed by someone with the last name "Bunuel" (with La femme aux bottes rouges being the most interesting/least tedious of these), but I'd much sooner vote for them over the Ozons

[therewillbeblus]

My list

1. A Christmas Tale
2. The Young Girls of Rochefort
3. Repulsion
4. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
5. Belle de jour
6. La vérité
7. Et Satan conduit le bal
8. In the Courtyard
9. Kings and Queen
10. Dancer in the Dark

[Matt]

My list

1. Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin, 2008)
2. "It's not important that I'm Catherine Deneuve." Chanel No. 5 commercial
3. "Sometimes I cannot bear to come out of my bath." Chanel No. 5 commercial
4. Belle de Jour (Luis Buñuel, 1967)
5. Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)
6. Thieves [Voleurs] (André Téchiné, 1996)
7. Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin, 2004)
8. Mississippi Mermaid (François Truffaut, 1969)
9. Time Regained (Raoul Ruiz, 1999)
10. After Him [Après lui] Gaël Morel, 2007)