William Klein

Mr. Freedom

Mr. Freedom

William Klein moved into more blatantly political territory with this hilarious, vicious Vietnam-era lampoon of imperialist American foreign policy. Mr. Freedom (John Abbey), a bellowing good-ol'-boy superhero decked out in copious football padding, jets to France to cut off a Commie invasion from Switzerland. A destructive, arrogant patriot in tight pants, Freedom joins forces with Marie Madeleine (a satirically sexy Delphine Seyrig) to combat lefty freethinkers, as well as the insidious evildoers Moujik Man and inflatable Red China Man, culminating in a star-spangled showdown of kitschy excess. Delightfully crass, Mr. Freedom is a trenchant, rib-tickling takedown of gaudy modern Americana.

Film Info

  • France
  • 1969
  • 92 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.66:1
  • English

Available In

Collector's Set

Eclipse Series 9: The Delirious Fictions of William Klein

The Delirious Fictions of William Klein

DVD Box Set

3 Discs

$35.96

Mr. Freedom
Cast
Delphine Seyrig
Marie-Madeleine
John Abbey
Mr. Freedom
Donald Pleasance
Dr. Freedom
Jean-Claude Drouot
Dick Sensass
Serge Gainsbourg
Mr. Drugstore
Rufus
Freddie Fric
Philippe Noiret
Moujik Man
Sami Frey
Christ Man
Catherine Rouvel
Marie Rouge
Joe Détergent
Henry Pillsbury
Monique Chaumette
Virgin Mary
Rita Maïden
Chambermaid
Yves Montand
Captain Formidable
Credits
Director
William Klein
Producer
Guy Belfond
Screenplay
William Klein
Cinematography
Pierre Lhomme
Editing
Anne-Marie Cotret
Music
Serge Gainsbourg
Production design
William Klein
Costumes
Janine Klein
Costumes
William Klein

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Delphine Seyrig

Actor

Delphine Seyrig
Delphine Seyrig

Thanks to the two most famous roles of her career—the enigmatic woman referred to only as A in Alain Resnais’ _Last Year at Marienbad_ and the middle-aged widow stuck in domestic routine in Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles—Delphine Seyrig is often thought of as an inscrutable performer. But this versatile French actress was also capable of great emotional immediacy and openness in her roles. The daughter of an archaeologist, Seyrig was a cosmopolite at a young age, having already lived in Lebanon, New York, and the south of France by the time she was twenty. She then studied acting in both France and the United States (at the Actors Studio). Her first screen performance was in the 1958 beat generation short Pull My Daisy, also featuring Jack Kerouac and Allan Ginsberg, shot in New York. A few years later, Last Year at Marienbad—in which Seyrig plays a woman wandering the fever-dream-like interior of a château, where she may or may not have been before—made her an icon of the French New Wave. She would go on appear in films by François Truffaut (Stolen Kisses, one of her most romantic parts), William Klein (she was never more delightfully off-kilter than in the satiric Mr. Freedom), Luis Buñuel (as the ever-gracious hostess in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie), Joseph Losey, Jacques Demy, Akerman, and other important film directors of the sixties and seventies. She died in 1990, at fifty-eight.