Lola
Jacques Demy’s debut film is a masterpiece starring Anouk Aimée as a variety show dancer who, in the French coastal city of Nantes, waits for the return of her lover whilst having affairs with various men.
Lola has been waiting for seven years for the return of her great love, Michel, the father of her young son. While she continues to believe he will return, various people cross her path: a childhood friend who falls in love with her, an American sailor searching for a lost love, and a young girl who dreams of a different life. Slowly, a mosaic of longings, chance encounters and missed opportunities unfolds, in which everyone is searching for love, yet no one seems quite able to grasp it.
With Lola, Jacques Demy made his feature film debut and immediately laid the foundations for his distinctive style. The film was shot in Demy’s hometown of Nantes and is regarded as a key work within the Nouvelle Vague. The atmospheric black-and-white cinematography by Raoul Coutard (known for Jean-Luc Godard’s À Bout De Souffle) and his first collaboration with composer Michel Legrand mark the beginning of one of the most important creative partnerships in French film history.