CQ (film)
Encyclopedia
CQ is a 2001 film
written and directed by Roman Coppola
. It was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
.
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.
) is currently working on a science-fiction, adventure film
called 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 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 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 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 - which the council literally showers her with.
2001 in film
The year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
written and directed by Roman Coppola
Roman Coppola
Roman Coppola is an American film director and music video director.-Early life:Coppola was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of set decorator/artist Eleanor Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was born in the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine while his father was in Paris...
. It was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
2001 Cannes Film Festival
The 2001 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the Italian film The Son's Room by Nanni Moretti.-Jury:* Liv Ullmann, President * Mimmo Calopresti * Charlotte Gainsbourg...
.
It is a homage to 1960s European spy/sci-fi spoofs like Barbarella
Barbarella (film)
Barbarella is a 1968 Franco-Italian science fiction film based on Jean-Claude Forrest's French Barbarella comics. The film was directed by Roger Vadim and stars Jane Fonda, who was Vadim's wife at the time.-Plot:...
and Danger: Diabolik
Danger: Diabolik
Danger: Diabolik is a 1968 feature film from Italian filmmaker Mario Bava based on the Italian comic character Diabolik.- About the film :...
and the documentary spoof David Holzman's Diary
David Holzman's Diary
David Holzman's Diary is a 1967 American film, directed by Jim McBride, which spoofs the art of documentary-making.It tells the story of a young man making a documentary of his life, who discovers something important about himself while making the movie....
. The cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
is done by Robert D. Yeoman. The film stars Jeremy Davies
Jeremy Davies (actor)
Jeremy Davies is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying the interpreter Cpl. Timothy E. Upham in the film Saving Private Ryan and the physicist Daniel Faraday on the television series Lost. He most recently appeared in the FX series, Justified, as Dickie Bennett.-Early...
, Jason Schwartzman
Jason Schwartzman
Jason Francesco Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Rushmore, Spun, I Heart Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...
, Giancarlo Giannini
Giancarlo Giannini
Giancarlo Giannini is an Italian actor and dubber.Giannini was born La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. He studied at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica in Rome, and made his film debut in a small part in Fango sulla metropoli in 1965...
, Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
, Billy Zane
Billy Zane
William George "Billy" Zane, Jr. is an American actor, producer and director. He is probably best known for his roles as Caledon Hockley in Titanic, The Phantom from The Phantom, John Wheeler in Twin Peaks and Mr...
, and Angela Lindvall
Angela Lindvall
Angela Lindvall is an American model and occasional actress.-Career:Lindvall was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma to Randall Lindvall, a pharmacist, and Laura Rasdall, a medical technologist and massage therapist. She was raised in Lee's Summit, Missouri and attended Lee's Summit High School...
. John Phillip Law
John Phillip Law
John Phillip Law was an American film actor with over one hundred movie roles to his credit. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Phyllis Sallee and the brother of actor Thomas Augustus Law .He was best known for his roles as the blind angel Pygar in the science fiction cult...
also appears.
The film features an original soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
by French electronic band Mellow
Mellow (band)
The original concept came from founder Patrick Woodcock, a multi-instrumentalist, who had befriended Nicolas Godin while they were getting their architecture degree in Versailles...
, which was released on Emperor Norton Records
Emperor Norton Records
Emperor Norton Records, was a Los Angeles-based electronica, hip-hop, and dance-music record label. Among the artists featured on the label were Ladytron, Arling & Cameron, Money Mark, Ugly Duckling, and Fantastic Plastic Machine...
.
CQ was released by United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
. 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 DaviesJeremy Davies (actor)
Jeremy Davies is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying the interpreter Cpl. Timothy E. Upham in the film Saving Private Ryan and the physicist Daniel Faraday on the television series Lost. He most recently appeared in the FX series, Justified, as Dickie Bennett.-Early...
) is currently working on a science-fiction, adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
called Dragonfly, written and directed by renowned director Andrezej (Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
). Andrezej is utterly infatuated with his film's star, Valentine (Angela Lindvall
Angela Lindvall
Angela Lindvall is an American model and occasional actress.-Career:Lindvall was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma to Randall Lindvall, a pharmacist, and Laura Rasdall, a medical technologist and massage therapist. She was raised in Lee's Summit, Missouri and attended Lee's Summit High School...
), 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
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
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
Jason Schwartzman
Jason Francesco Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Rushmore, Spun, I Heart Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...
) - 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
Élodie Bouchez
Élodie Bouchez-Bangalter is a French actress. She is best known in the United States for her role as Renée Rienne on the fifth and final season of the television show Alias...
), an Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
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 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
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
. 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 Dragonfly is an obvious homage to Barbarella
Barbarella
Barbarella is a female given name, variant of Barbara. It may also refer to:* Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest; the origin of the story** Barbarella , based on the comic book; starring Jane Fonda...
, 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 Dragonfly, Valentine plays a sexy freelance super-agent who lives in a spaceship perched on top of the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
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
Billy Zane
William George "Billy" Zane, Jr. is an American actor, producer and director. He is probably best known for his roles as Caledon Hockley in Titanic, The Phantom from The Phantom, John Wheeler in Twin Peaks and Mr...
) 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 - which the council literally showers her with.
Cast
- Jeremy DaviesJeremy Davies (actor)Jeremy Davies is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying the interpreter Cpl. Timothy E. Upham in the film Saving Private Ryan and the physicist Daniel Faraday on the television series Lost. He most recently appeared in the FX series, Justified, as Dickie Bennett.-Early...
- Paul - Angela LindvallAngela LindvallAngela Lindvall is an American model and occasional actress.-Career:Lindvall was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma to Randall Lindvall, a pharmacist, and Laura Rasdall, a medical technologist and massage therapist. She was raised in Lee's Summit, Missouri and attended Lee's Summit High School...
- Dragonfly / Valentine - Elodie BouchezÉlodie BouchezÉlodie Bouchez-Bangalter is a French actress. She is best known in the United States for her role as Renée Rienne on the fifth and final season of the television show Alias...
- Marlene - Gérard DepardieuGérard DepardieuGérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
- Andrezej - Giancarlo GianniniGiancarlo GianniniGiancarlo Giannini is an Italian actor and dubber.Giannini was born La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. He studied at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica in Rome, and made his film debut in a small part in Fango sulla metropoli in 1965...
- Enzo - Massimo GhiniMassimo GhiniMassimo Ghini is an Italian actor. He has worked with Franco Zeffirelli, Giorgio Strehler, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, and Gabriele Lavia, among others. He is married to actress Nancy Brilli, and is the father of four children....
- Fabrizio - Jason SchwartzmanJason SchwartzmanJason Francesco Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Rushmore, Spun, I Heart Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...
- Felix DeMarco - Billy ZaneBilly ZaneWilliam George "Billy" Zane, Jr. is an American actor, producer and director. He is probably best known for his roles as Caledon Hockley in Titanic, The Phantom from The Phantom, John Wheeler in Twin Peaks and Mr...
- Mr. E - John Phillip LawJohn Phillip LawJohn Phillip Law was an American film actor with over one hundred movie roles to his credit. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Phyllis Sallee and the brother of actor Thomas Augustus Law .He was best known for his roles as the blind angel Pygar in the science fiction cult...
- Chairman - Silvio MuccinoSilvio MuccinoSilvio Muccino is an Italian actor.-Biography:Muccino was born in Rome on April 14, 1982.Graduated from Rome’s Arts High School and enrolled in the Arts Faculty of Rome’s La Sapienza University....
- Pippo - Dean StockwellDean StockwellDean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...
- Dr. Ballard - Natalia VodianovaNatalia VodianovaNatalia Mikhailovna Vodianova is a Russian model and philanthropist who now permanently resides in the United Kingdom.-Early life:Born in Gorky, Soviet Union , Natalia Vodianova grew up in a poor district of the city with her mother and two half sisters, one of whom has cerebral palsy...
- Brigit - Bernard Verley - Trailer Voiceover Actor
- L.M. Kit Carson - Fantasy Critic
- Chris Bearne - Fantasy Critic
- Xavier LaurentXavier LaurentXavier Laurent is a French actor, born February 11, 1977 in Aix-en-Provence.In 1994, he began studying Economics at the Université de la Méditerranée ....