Film Names: The French New Wave

Bonjour, mes amis!

I write and queue posts about a week in advance, so it was only a couple days ago when I heard the news about Paris (as well as Beirut, Lebanon, etc). It's hard to know how to react at a time like this. A favorite name blogger of mine, Abby Sandel, has a poignant message in her recent Sunday Summary.

Pursue your passions, pursue acceptance and understanding, but most of all, pursue love.

Today's Film Names series post will focus on names found in the films of the Nouvelle Vague, or the New Wave in 1950's and 60's French cinema.

The names are differentiated by role, but there's been definite crossover, so don't consider this list to be perfect!

Directors

Claude Chabrol - Le Beau Serge (1958), Les Biches (1968), La Femme infidèle (1969)

Jean-Luc Godard - Breathless (1960), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Breathless is excellent, if you want to get a great general sense of the New Wave. 

Jacques Rivette - Le divertissement (1952), Paris Belongs to Us (1961)

Éric Rohmer - My Night at Maud's (1969), Claire's Knee (1970)

François Truffaut - Les quatre cents coups (1959), Shoot the Pianist (1960), Jules et Jim (1962)

Alain Resnais - Night and Fog (1955), Hiroshima mon amour (1959), Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Hiroshima mon amour is a personal favorite film, and many of Resnais' films are taught in Film Studies classes at UC Berkeley. 

Agnès Varda - Cleo de 5 à 7 (1962), Le Bonheur (1965)
Agnès is a beautiful retro name, and Cleo too! Inès is another European variation. 

Writers

Marguerite Duras - Hiroshima mon amour (1959), Seven Days... Seven Nights (1960)
One of my favorite writers of all time, and part of the reason I love the name Marguerite. Other works by Duras include "The Lover" and "Emily L". 

Paul Gégauff - Plein soleil (1960), Salle no 8 (1967), More (1969)

Marilù Parolini - L'amour fou (1969), Strategio del Ragno (1970)
A rare first name! Marilu is absolutely adorable - and sounds a bit like Desilu?

Actors

Anouk Aimée - La dolce vita (1960), Lola (1961), 8 1/2 (1963)
Another name crush! Anouk (or Anouck) is just fantastic!

Brigitte Bardot - Et Dieu crea la femme (1956), Le mépris (1963), Viva Maria! (1965)

Jean-Paul Belmondo - Breathless (1960),  Seven Days... Seven Nights (1960), Pierrot le Fou (1965)

Catherine Deneuve - L'homme à femmes (1960), Belle de Jour (1967), Le Dernier métro (1980)

Jean Seberg - Bonjour tristesse (1958), Breathless (1960), La récréation (1961)

Jean-Pierre Léaud - Les quatre cents coups (1959), Masculin Féminin (1966), Baisers volés (1968)

À bientôt!

Saturday Jams - Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

"Sally's Song", sung by Catherine O'Hara, composed by Danny Elfman, 1993

"Johanna", sung by Jamie Campbell Bower, composed by Stephen Sondheim, 2007

"Frederick's Soliloquy", sung by Roger Bart, composed by Mel Brooks, 2007

"Then Came Jonny", sung by Richard Roland, composed by Dana P. Rowe & John Dempsey, 1993

"Whatever Lola Wants", sung by Gwen Verdon, composed by Richard Adler & Jerry Ross, 1955

Film Names: Scary Movies

I was raised by Halloween parents.

Those of you who also had Halloween parents will know what I mean. For those of you who didn't - imagine your childhood, but with a lot more costumes, fake blood, and scary movies.

Halloween was our family's big holiday, and we went all-out with decorations, costumes, pumpkin-carving, and more. My sister and I, as a result, are now huge fans of scary movies - to the chagrin of friends and more distant relatives.

Today's post will be about cool names found in Halloween classics - or at least, my favorite classics.

Frankenstein, directed by James Whale, 1931
An indisputable classic, and a personal favorite, the original Frankenstein has influenced countless films over the years. Characters include classic names like Henry, Elizabeth, and Victor, all excellent and established choices. Actor names include the rarer Mae, Boris, Dwight, and Lionel - while Mae and Lionel have reentered the list, are Dwight and Boris too dated?

Dracula, directed by Tod Browning, 1931
I couldn't include Boris Karloff without Bela Lugosi! An early vampire film that of course led to later iterations, Dracula is timeless - and still creepy. Bela for a boy is unusual today, and might be confused with feminine Bella - the boy's version means "white", the girls' comes from Elizabeth, "pledged to God". Mina, a main character's name, is recently starting to rise back up the girls' list.

The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin, 1973
With eerie effects - including green slime - little actress Linda Blair shot into the spotlight in this religious ride through demonic possession. I find it interesting that the two main female characters are Chris and Regan, with gender-neutral names. Actor names include Ellen, Lee, Max, Jack, and Jason - nothing too unfamiliar.

Halloween, directed by John Carpenter, 1978
The beginning of Jamie Lee Curtis' career, Halloween spawned a series of sequels and remakes, with scary killer Michael Myers lurking through them all. A lot of the character names are nicknames - Laurie, Annie, Tommy, Richie - probably because of their young ages. Among the actresses, two have stereotypically male names: Jamie Lee and Kyle.

Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hooper, 1982
This movie triggers all sorts of relatable fears - clowns, shadows, ghosts, and more. The actors and actresses who played the central family have an interesting mix of names - Scottish Craig, combo JoBeth, French Dominique, classic Oliver, and flower-power Heather. I hadn't seen the director's name before, either; it's pronounced like Toby.

The Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by Henry Selick, 1993
One of my favorite movies of all time, this animated film can be watched at Halloween, Christmas - or any other time of year. Main characters Jack and Sally are my favorite fictional couple, hands down, with timeless names to match. In related name trivia, creator Tim Burton and ex-partner Helena Bonham Carter have a daughter Nell, which continues the matrilineal tradition on Helena's side - Hélène, Elena, Helena, Nell.

Scream, directed by Wes Craven, 1996
The best first 15 minutes of any scary movie, in my opinion. This 90's mashup of real terror and meta-comedy keeps you on the edge of your seat. Again, the female characters have gender-neutral names (why is this?) - Casey, Sidney, Gale, and Tatum. Star Neve Campbell's name means "snow", and it's climbing in the UK along with Gaelic spelling Niamh.

The Blair Witch Project, directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, 1999
The movie that started the "found footage" trend, it's a bit less scary than before the copycats followed - but only a bit. The actors share the names of their characters - Heather, Josh and Mike - which prompted the rumor to be spread that the actors had actually died.

What are your favorite scary movies?

Happy Halloween! Stay costumed and safe this weekend :)