Das Fotomodell (1969)

Das Fotomodell: Directed by Jacques Demy. With Anouk Aimée, Gary Lockwood, Alexandra Hay, Carol Cole. George is unemployed, broke, about to be drafted to Vietnam, and suddenly madly in love with the divine Lola, a woman he has only briefly glimpsed. Now George searches for his potential amour through the City of Angels.

“Gary Lockwood cuts an amusingly masculine presence on the screen: dressed in T-shirts and blue jeans, chain-smoking and driving a revamped jalopy–his hair combed down over his forehead like a teenage car mechanic–heu0026#39;s a walking centerfold out of Tiger Beat. Lockwood plays an unemployed denizen of Los Angeles who follows peculiarly glamorous Anouk Aimée one afternoon down the city street and into a model shop (where men can photograph girls–look but donu0026#39;t touch). Sheu0026#39;s a French immigrant whou0026#39;ll be returning home soon (something to do with her papers), and heu0026#39;s been drafted and about to have his car repossessed. Certainly a one-night-stand is all these two lovelies can afford, but the things they talk about, the connection they make, may last a lot longer. Director Jacques Demy seems to have fallen in love with late-u0026#39;60s L.A., and much of the movie is spent just following Lockwood around from place to place. It isnu0026#39;t right to say the picture meanders (it hasnu0026#39;t got the agenda to meander from!), though it does feel mighty thin. Films based upon character and conversation are apt to tire some viewersu0026#39; patience, but those in the mood for a low-keyed, would-be love story could certainly do worse. Lockwood is boyish but solemn, perhaps a loner, and of very few words; still, he connects with viewers on an intrinsic level (you trust him) and his final scene on the telephone is a winner. **1/2 from ****”