Anouk Aimee was discovered by Jacques Prévert, and she was to be featured and introduced in the Carné-Prévert film LA FLEUR DE L'AGE, which began production in 1947 but was abandoned due to a series of setbacks that brought the fabled director-writer symbiosis to a permanent end.

Smitten with Aimee, Prevert persevered, eventually finding a worthy substitute for her debut feature when he teamed up with André Cayatte for LES AMANTS DE VERONE, where she is the Juliet to Serge Reggiani's Romeo in a romantic, bittersweet, "film within a film" noir that also features a colossal performance from Pierre Brasseur.

As it happens, LES AMANTS DE VERONE, which was screened to great acclaim in THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT 5 in 2018, is scheduled for a repeat screening this fall as part of our two-part, 33-film series at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. So we will be able to give Anouk Aimee (who is also affecting in Georges Franju's LA TETE CONTRE LES MURS) a bit of a tribute.