Released in 1979, Terrence Malick’s masterpiece, “Les Moissons du ciel”, will return to the cinema in a superb restored 4K version!
45 years after its release, Les Moissons du ciel will return to cinemas on May 22. Terrence Malick’s masterpiece has been given a sublime 4K facelift for the occasion. Extremely rare, the feature film obtained a press rating of 5 stars out of 5 (average of 10 reviews)!
As a reminder, this is the filmmaker’s second feature film after La Balade sauvage, released in 1975. Carried by Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shepard, Les Moissons du ciel takes us to 1916.
Bill, a worker in a foundry, his girlfriend Abby and his sister Linda leave Chicago to harvest crops in Texas. Seeing this as an opportunity to escape poverty, Bill pushes Abby to give in to the advances of a rich farmer, whom they know has an incurable illness.
The Richard Gere revelation
This poetic work, of astonishing beauty, revealed the actor Richard Gere, then 29 years old. Until then, the actor had distinguished himself in various series. Here he obtains his first major role in the cinema. The son of a farmer, he sufficiently embodied the working class according to Malick, who had initially thought of John Travolta.
The latter was forced to decline the offer at the last moment because the ABC channel did not want to release him from his commitments on the series Welcome back, Kotter. It was Carrie Fisher who was to give him the answer. Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman, superstars of the time, both refused the role.
A perfectionist, Terrence Malick requisitioned his team for nearly a year for filming. When it had already started, the director threw the script in the trash and followed his actors as closely as possible, giving them plenty of time to find their own story. It then took two years to finalize the editing of the film.
Park Circus Richard Gere and Brooke Adams
A marathon shoot
If the filming lasted so long, it was in particular due to a requirement from Terrence Malick, that of filming a large part of the shots during the “blue hour” or “magic hour”.
This is the period between day and night when the sky is almost entirely filled with a darker blue than the daytime sky blue. This period is also called “between dog and wolf”.
According to cinematographer Nestor Almendros, Malick wanted “a very visual film, where the plot would be revealed by the images themselves. Very few people really want to give this priority to the image. Usually the director gives priority to the actors and the plot , but here the plot is told visually”underlined the technician.
Note that the latter was losing his sight when filming began. His assistant had to take a Polaroid of all the scenes, in order to analyze them as best as possible. Nestor Almendros will be awarded the Oscar for Best Cinematography for his work on the images of Les Moissons du ciel.
See you on May 22, 2024 at the cinema to (re)see this masterpiece. And if you are a fan of the Cannes Film Festival, you will recognize the title Aquariumtaken from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. This memorable song is used 3 times in the film.
After Les Moissons du ciel, Terrence Malick will wait 20 long years before returning behind the camera with La Ligne rouge.