CQ (film)

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CQ

Promotional poster
Directed by Roman Coppola
Produced by Willi Bär
Georgia Kacandes
Written by Roman Coppola
Starring Jeremy Davies
Angela Lindvall
Élodie Bouchez
Gérard Depardieu
Billy Zane
Music by Mellow
Cinematography Robert D. Yeoman
Editing by Leslie Jones
Louise Rubacky
Distributed by United Artists
Release dates May 12, 2001 (2001-05-12) (Cannes)
May 24, 2002
Running time 88 minutes
Country United States
Language English
French
Budget $7 million

CQ is a 2001 film written and directed by Roman Coppola. It was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.[1]

It is a homage to 1960s European spy/sci-fi spoofs like Barbarella and Danger: Diabolik and the documentary spoof David Holzman's Diary. The cinematography is done by Robert D. Yeoman. The film stars Jeremy Davies, Jason Schwartzman, Giancarlo Giannini, Gérard Depardieu, Billy Zane, and Angela Lindvall. John Phillip Law also appears.

The film features an original soundtrack by French electronic band Mellow, which was released on Emperor Norton Records.

CQ was released by United Artists. The title "CQ" is revealed to be code for "Seek You", in line with the movie's theme of seeking and finding love.

Plot

Set in Paris in 1969, young film editor Paul Ballard (Jeremy Davies) is currently working on a science-fiction adventure film called Codename: Dragonfly, written and directed by renowned director Andrezej (Gérard Depardieu). Andrezej is utterly infatuated with his film's star, Valentine (Angela Lindvall), a young American whom he discovered at a political rally some time ago. Paul, an aspiring filmmaker working on Dragonfly, regularly borrows cameras and other equipment from work in order to film his own project: a documentary of his own self-reflections. When the producers prove unhappy with Andrezej's ideas for the movie's ending, they fire him. They are particularly upset with Andrezej's ideas for what they had expected would be an action movie: Andrezej believes it should end with a whimper instead of a bang, in order to subvert the audience's expectations.

Andrezej is first replaced with the flashy Felix DeMarco (Jason Schwartzman) - but ultimately producers set on Paul. Much as Andrezej before him, Paul finds his efforts to complete Dragonfly stymied by his infatuation with Valentine. Paul has a girlfriend, Marlene (Elodie Bouchez), an Air France flight attendant who makes time for Paul despite her schedule, his obvious growing infatuation with Valentine, his obsession with film making and his self-absorption. Ultimately, Marlene leaves Paul, realizing that his obsessions will never include her. Paul is also challenged by the apparent work of a saboteur, who cuts up footage before it can be edited, and who sends cryptic messages to the remaining crew. Others suspect Andrezej - who resents being fired and losing control of what he considers to be his film.

The film climaxes with a car chase - as the crew prepares to shoot a climactic chase scene in Codename: Dragonfly, Andrezej sneaks onto the set and steals their film. Valentine and Paul jump into Dragonfly's car and chase Andrezej through Paris, ultimately confronting him on the banks of the Seine. Paul convinces Andrezej to return the film, and ultimately it is completed, apparently keeping Andrezej's original idea for the ending. CQ itself ends with Paul being a guest speaker at a French film festival in early 1970. Despite signs of stature, he is asked to pass along a script to Felix DeMarco - suggesting that he is still in the other man's shadow. The festival also shows Paul's own film - the collection of self-reflections he'd been shooting over the course CQ. In voice overs accompanying Paul's film, we learn that Marlene and Paul never got back together.

Although Codename: Dragonfly is an obvious homage to Barbarella, CQ occurs in 1969, rather than 1968, when Barbarella was filmed - possibly to allow for references to be made to the large scale general strikes occurring in May 1968 in France.

In Codename: Dragonfly, Valentine plays a sexy freelance super-agent who lives in a spaceship perched on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris of the future, and undertakes assignments for the "World Council". Dragonfly's latest mission is to stop a revolutionary leader known as "Mr. E" (Billy Zane) who is based on the "far-out" side of the Moon. The World Council turns for help to Dragonfly, reluctantly because she charges huge sums of money - with which the council literally showers her.

Cast

References

  1. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: CQ". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-10-24. 

External links

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