Emmet O’Neal Library begins summer art house film series

Poster for Seven Samurai courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Mountain Brook’s Emmet O’Neal Library kicks off its summer series of art house films Wednesday night with a screening of the 1960 French-Italian film Purple Noon. It’s the first of a series of free monthly screenings that will also include films from Sweden and Japan.

Purple Noon, directed by René Clément, is an early adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, which contemporary audiences might remember as the basis for a 1999 Matt Damon movie of the same name.

June’s film will be Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 erotic drama Summer with Monika, and the following month will feature Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic Seven Samurai. The series will close out on a more modern note with Force Majeure, a 2014 dark comedy about a marriage cast into doubt by the husband’s selfish actions during an avalanche.

The Purple Noon screening will take place Wednesday, May 23 at 6:30 p.m.

All films are intended for mature audiences. Screenings are free and refreshments will be served. For a full schedule of films and their synopses, visit the series’ Facebook event page.