A new 35 mm print of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur, France/Italy 1953)-a riveting study of desperation, existential despair, fraternal bonding and corporate greed all wrapped up in a gritty action movie-opens an exclusive San Francisco engagement June 8 at San Francisco Film Society Cinema (1746 Post Street).
In a squalid South American oil town, four desperate men sign on for a suicide mission to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain route. As they ferry their explosive cargo to a faraway oil fire, each bump and jolt tests their courage, their friendship and their nerves. The result is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France’s legendary master of suspense and the winner of the 1953 Cannes Palme d’Or. This new print was created from a complete HD digital restoration completed by the Criterion Collection. Written by Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jérôme Géronimi. Photographed by Armand Thirard With Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck. In French with subtitles. 147 min. Distributed by Janus Films.
Showtimes 2:30, 5:30, 8:30 pm
Tickets $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office opens May 23 online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
To request screeners contact bproctor@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
At SF Film Society Cinema, the stylish state-of-the art theater located in the New People building at 1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan) in Japantown, the San Francisco Film Society offers its acclaimed exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events on a daily year-round basis.
More upcoming San Francisco Film Society programs
Opening May 18: Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle and Le Rayon Vert (Summer)
Opening May 25: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Opening June 1: Hide Away
June 2 only: An Evening of Wholphin Love
Eight consecutive Saturdays June 2-July 21: The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Opening June 15: The Woman in the Fifth An unsettling thriller adapted from Douglas Kennedy’s international bestseller.
June 21: Master Class: The Politics of the Cutting Room Floor
Opening June 22: Found Memories Júlia Murat’s disarming meditation on memory, aging and letting go of the past, was a hit at this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival.
June 22-July 8: KinoTek: Adriane Colburn: Ways, Points and Means In this installation, Colburn presents the sea as a persistently foreign body, an overlooked wilderness that one attempts to comprehend through navigational technologies, optics and cartography.
Opening June 29: Corpo Celeste Alice Rohrwacher’s assured first feature mixes neo-realism with a touch of Buñuelian satire.