Rent Lola (1961)

Anouk to the rescue. - Lola review by RhysH

A rather clichéd plot with clichéd characters. The American sailors on the town, the French "hostesses" with hearts of gold, the hapless drifter unlucky in love and work, the errant father returning with cigar and open top car.

It is worth watching for Anouk Aimée, a delightful performance. She has a mobile face which she uses to great effect.

Love, Luck and Missed Connections - Lola review by griggs

Jacques Demy’s first feature is basically ninety minutes of people wandering round Nantes missing each other and making bad romantic decisions, which sounds faintly annoying and somehow turns out to be rather lovely. Lola wears its influences quite openly, but with enough charm that you stop caring and just go with it.

Anouk Aimée is the reason it all holds. She gives Lola real glamour, but also that look of someone who has been let down often enough to make elegance part of the coping strategy. Demy shoots the whole thing with such tenderness that even the near-misses start to feel seductive.

I did want to shake some of these people. The yearning is so intense it occasionally tips into the precious, and a few of the characters are running dangerously low on common sense. But Demy never mocks them for any of it. That generosity is the thing. Slight, wistful, a bit maddening, and quietly heartbreaking.