AU BONHEUR DES DAMES (THE LADIES’ PARADISE) May 6th at St. Louis Art Museum – Live Music by The Poor People of Paris

The silent French film AU BONHEUR DES DAMES (1930 – aka LADIES’ PARADISE) screens Saturday May 6th at 11am at The St. Louis Art Museum (Forest Park, 1 Fine Arts Dr, St. Louis, MO). The film will be accompanied by Elsie Parker and The Poor People of Paris. Tickets for this event are $15 general admission and $10 for museum members. Tickets can be purchased in advance from Metrotix or by calling 314.534.1111.

Julien Duvivier’s final silent film is a modern retelling of Emile Zola’s panoramic chronicle of mid-19th-century Parisian society, centering on a small fabric shop struggling to survive in the shadow of a luxury department store. With expressionistic shades of Erich von Stroheim and G.W. Pabst, the film captures the rhythms of urban life and creates a stinging portrait of capitalist ruthlessness, class tensions, and sexual competition. Scott Foundas in the Village Voice calls the film “an orgy of pure cinema, from its opening train shot to its climactic visual effect of a magically converted storefront. Filming on the teeming streets of Paris in and around the Galeries Lafayette, Duvivier pulls out every trick in the book – elaborate crane and tracking shots; massive crowd scenes; surreal, constructivist montages – for this alternately sincere and cynical hymn to capitalist endeavor.” Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris, who specialize in French popular music and jazz, provide accompaniment.

A Facebook invite for this event can be found HERE
https://www.facebook.com/events/292929334454326/

Elsie Parker and “The Poor People of Paris”  a St. Louis, Missouri based group, specializes in French popular music and jazz. Elsie  Parker, the group’s founder, first became enchanted with the voice and songs of Edith Piaf, and especially loves singing Piaf’s early songs. Elsie also performs (in French) songs associated with Charles Aznavour, Hervé Vilard, Mireille Mathieu, Michael Legrand, Patricia Kaas,  Axelle Red, Jaques Brel, Leo Marjane, Eddy Mitchell, Vanessa Paradis, Gilbert Becaud, Serge Lama, Sylvie Bernard, and Charles Trenet, as well as performing her own original material.