One Hundred and One Nights


One Hundred and One Nights is a 1995 French comedy film directed by Agnès Varda. A light-hearted look at 100 years of commercial cinema, it celebrates in vision and sound favourite films from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the USA. It was entered into the 45th Berlin International Film Festival.

Plot

With his hundredth birthday approaching and his memory failing, Simon Cinéma hires Camille, a bright young film student, to visit him in his isolated mansion outside Paris for 101 days and relive for him the history of the cinema in which he has been involved all his life. In his opulent seclusion, he models himself on Norma Desmond and his butler on Erich von Stroheim.
They watch clips from his collection, listen to snatches of dialogue and music, and discuss famous films, directors, and characters. Actors from many countries drop in to visit him, in person or as memories: Marcello Mastroianni, Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Hanna Schygulla, Catherine Deneuve, Robert De Niro, Sandrine Bonnaire, Anouk Aimée, Fanny Ardant, Gina Lollobrigida, and Jane Birkin.
A subplot involves Camille's boyfriend Mica, who is trying with friends to make his first film and decides that the wealthy old man should help finance it. He persuades Vincent, who has been in India for years, to pose as Simon's long-lost grandson and heir. That plan is foiled by Elizabeth Taylor, who gets Simon to leave everything for medical research. With Camille, Simon attends the Cannes festival and makes a triumphant return trip to Hollywood. Finally, he agrees to act a Mafia chief in Mica's film.

Cast