13th AOAFF: Catherine Deneuve is the "Mississippi Mermaid" in the enchanting Gardens of the French School

Based on “Waltz in the Dark”, Cornell Woolrich's detective novel, “Mississippi Mermaid” presents Jean-Paul Belmondo as Louis, a wealthy tobacco plantation owner on the African island of Réunion who decides to marry an unknown woman by correspondence. When she appears, Louis realizes that she has nothing to do with the woman in the photograph, but smitten as he is he ignores the ominous signs and marries her. Shortly after the wedding, though, the mysterious Julie (Catherine Deneuve in the most femme fatale role of her career) will disappear, stealing a large sum of money from him. What follows is a labyrinthine game of suspicion and deception, an obsessive manhunt that strikes a magnetic balance between truth and lies, fantasy and reality, illusion and the essence of cinema itself.

One of François Truffaut's tribute films to his beloved American culture, a highly creative part of the French auteur's filmography which also includes films such as “The Bride Wore Black”, “Confidentially Yours” and “Shoot the Piano Player”, this "Mermaid" delightfully matches melodrama with thriller, film noir with pulp literature, Hitchcockian influences with the Nouvelle Vague, starring two of the greatest stars of French cinema in their unique cinematic encounter. Thanasis Patsavos

In collaboration with the Plein-Air Festival by the French Institute of Greece.

The movie will be screened with greek SDH subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing people.

Entrance with free-admission tickets, distributed one hour before the screening.

Director: François Truffaut | Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, Michel Bouquet, Nelly Borgeaud | Runtime: 123’ | Year of Production: 1969

Download the fesstival's daily schedule here (pdf file).

The Athens Open Air Film Festival is a beloved summer cinematic event that is an integral part of the cultural experience for residents and visitors of the capital city. It is organized by the Athens International Film Festival and the Organization of Culture, Sports, and Youth of the Municipality of Athens (OPANDA), with Nova as a major sponsor.

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