Lola (1961) - DVD

Anouk Aimée (La Dolce Vita, 8 ½) gives her defining performance as Cécile, a cabaret performer and single mother. Taking the stage name Lola, she entrances Roland (Marc Michel), a young drifter. A friend of Lola since childhood, he yearns for her to return his love but she pines for her husband’s return. In the present, she disports with an American sailor named Frankie (Alan Scott), who in turn is the object of a young girl’s affections. The girl’s name, like Lola’s, is Cécile (Annie Dupeyroux). Set in Nantes over the span of a few days, this story of love stories crossing paths, of life teeming with co-incidences and missed chances conveys the spirit of the early French New Wave and the graceful cinema of Max Ophüls.