One Hundred and One Nights

One Hundred and One Nights, directed by Agnès Varda, was designed as an "entertainment" celebrating the centennial of cinema since the Lumière brothers; it follows an aging, nearly hundred year old figure (Michel Piccoli) losing his memory and believing himself to be cinema itself, with a young film student (Julie Gayet) hired to help revive his memory. The film screened in competition at the 45th Berlin Film Festival. Numerous celebrities appear playing themselves, including Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Gérard Depardieu, Robert De Niro, and Harrison Ford; the sequence featuring Deneuve, De Niro, and Delon together became known as the "three D's." Despite its star studded cast, the film had a modest French box office run: 49,150 tickets sold for 294,900 dollars. Who it's for: anyone curious about a French film designed to celebrate cinema's centennial, packed with dozens of famous names making cameo appearances as themselves. Who it's not for: viewers wanting a deep, serious drama, since the film deliberately maintains a light, celebratory tone.