A warm tribute to Stanley Kubrick

The Salle du Soixantième witnessed a moment of high emotion at the 64th Festival. Yesterday, Thierry Frémaux paid tribute to the late director  Stanley Kubrick in the presence of his wife, Christiane Kubrick and Malcolm McDowell, star of A Clockwork Orange.

"I am proud to be here but I never wanted to be here. My husband should have been here but he didn’t come." A moment of silence passes through the audience, touched by these words. They stand and applaud Christiane Kubrick. Deeply moved, the director’s widow continues, "He was too shy, he didn’t want to come. He was stupid – he should have come!"

Standing beside her, Malcolm McDowell, described by Thierry Frémaux as a "man as kind as he is frightening in A Clockwork Orange." The star of Kubrick’s cult film has lost none of the charisma and piercing blue-eyed stare that haunted generations of cinema fans. "What happened to the last 40 years? I am proud to represent Stanley Kubrick. His film was inspired by the book by Anthony Burgess whose name should not be forgotten either."

A preview of the restored version of A Clockwork Orange was then screened. "A film which remains fresh as ever", says Thierry Frémaux. Many of the young people here are watching the film for the firs time, lucky enough to be seeing it on a big screen in the presence of some of those who made the film.

The tribute to Stanley Kubrick continues today with the Film Masterclass, with  Malcolm McDowell at 2 p.m. in the Salle Buñuel.

T.K.