Never before released in cinemas, this amazingly modern musical film will captivate you!

What is it about?

Anna arrives in Paris. As soon as she gets off the train, the advertising agency director Serge falls madly in love. To find him, he puts his only photo, which he has on all the streets of the capital, so that he does not understand that he meets him every day…

At the end of this very dark month of November, distributor Malavida has a good idea to release a pop and music film that should do some good! This movie is Anna, like the name of its lead actress, the iconic Anna Kareena.

Made for TV and first aired on ORTF in 1967, Anna became a true rarity, a little nugget of 60s charm that the public could discover at the cinema for the first time. An opportunity to see this film in color, as its television broadcast was in black and white. A release that highlights the pop and contemporary side of the film.

Although the film is almost 60 years old, it has breath and modernity in its staging. Photo direction is also provided by a recognized figure of the new wave, cinematographer Willy Courant, who notably worked with Godard on Masculin – Féminin. Victor Upshaw’s choreography also lends great grace throughout.

But what we remember most about this musical film is obviously its musical artists and thus its casting: Anna Karina in the lead role, but also Jean-Claude Brail, Serge Gainsbourg, Marianne Faithful and even a small appearance by Eddie Mitchell.

It is in this film that we can hear one of Serge Gainsbourg’s most famous songs, exactly Sous le soleil, which Anna Karina sang here. “Serge took on the challenge of infusing his modernity into Anna. He developed an avant-garde writing that I think heralds the rap ‘It’s crystallization, as Stendhal says,’ and is horribly at odds with the traditional song,” Anna’s director, Pierre Koralnik, told the film’s press kit. All songs written and composed by Serge Gainsbourg.

A video from the INA archive takes us into the atmosphere of the shooting:

Director Pierre Koralnik reveals some anecdotes about the creation of the songs: “Serge did not like “big” sounds, too lyrical. In this case, they served him with Karina: she had a very beautiful voice, simple and clear. (…) It was more difficult for Jean-Claude Brill: his singing voice was terrible, he did not feel precision, rhythm and tempo. I speak more freely about this because he was the first to admit it! As a result, Serge was forced to give him his own voice as a guide… or at least turn him into a boomerang for a few seconds. The art is done!“

A few months after the release of Je t’aime, moi non plus, shot by Serge Gainsbourg himself, fans of the singer have another opportunity to revisit a lesser-known part of his career.

Pierre Koralnik’s Anna is a must-see at the cinema.