Before garish cruise ships and legions of tourists turned the place into a Disney theme park, Venice was an Italian city of opulent mystique, empty stone alleyways and ancient grandeur. That city no longer exists, unless you visit during the bleakest winter months of the year. To be at home in Venice, you must feel a certain loneliness that exists only when the sun barely rises and your foot steps echo down empty passageways. Venice is loveliest when daylight is almost florescent. In the old days, wealthy expatriates, writers and movie stars lived there anonymously among the locals, enjoying all the privacy the canals provide. That city is gone now, erased by charter tours selfie-obsessed visitors who find it impossible to commit to memory what they see and experience. [Photo above of Jeanne Moreau in Eva]
The Venice I recall from childhood and from regular winter visits with my wife in the 1980s and '90s still exists in Eva (1962). What's more, the cinematic jazz score by Michel Legand is singular, spectacular and little known. Directed by Joseph Losey (The Servant, Accident and The Go-Between, with screenplays by Harold Pinter), Eva centers on a Welsh cad and best-selling author (actor Stanley Baker) who spends time in Venice and Rome and is about to marry (Virna Lisi) until he is ensnared by a hypnotically sultry and money-minded French woman (Jeanne Moreau). [Photo above of Virna Lisi in Eva]
Admittedly, the film suffers from a sub-par script, heavy-handed editing and relentless bleakness. But if you can focus instead on Legrand's score, the direction and the Italian locations, you'll feel as if you are there, in 1962. [Photo above of Stanley Baker]
NOTE: Eva cannot be embedded at JazzWax, but you can watch a wonderful print for free with exceptional sound by going here and clicking "play." Happy New Year!...
JazzWax note: Before he began writing the score for Eva, Michel Legrand was fully aware that he was the director's second choice for the soundtrack. Joseph Losey originally wanted Miles Davis. But Legrand's jazz score, with its wandering muted trumpet and Gil Evansian mood swings is a a perfect backdrop to the Venetian setting and angry narcissism of the two main characters, both of whom love jazz in the film. We also hear Billie Holiday's Willow Weep For Me and Loveless Love. Adam & Eve is sung by Tony Middleton. Here's some of Legrand's ingenious music...
JazzWax tracks: You'll find the soundtrack here and here. And if you're a Jeanne Moreau fan like me, here's an album of music from her films.
