Encyclopédie sur la mort

Pierre Drieu La Rochelle

Solitaire et instable, auteur de Gilles (1939) et du Feu follet (1931), il fut l’ami intime d’Aragon et compagnon des surréalistes. Il opta pour l’extrême droite et s’engagera sous l’occupation allemande pour le fascisme et la collaboration avec l’ennemi. Fondamentalement désespéré et sans projet, il mit fin à ses jours en 1945. Un roman posthume parut en 1966 sous le titre de Mémoires de Dirk Raspe. Dans Le feu follet, le personnage d’Alain est inspiré par le poète Jacques Rigaud, qui s’est donné la mort. Alain, être fragile et sans volonté, incarne le désarroi de l’homme moderne, abandonné dans un monde aux prises avec une crise* très grave des valeurs. Il tente de trouver l’oubli dans la drogue et, pour s’en libérer, il se lance dans l’écriture. Incapable de trouver un sens à sa vie, il se suicide. L’auteur souligne le rapport entre le suicide et l’action ou, plus exactement, il dégage la spécificité du suicide en tant qu’action destinée à secouer l’autre afin de renouer les liens desserrés: «J’ai la vocation au suicide… Alain ne se confinait pas dans la méditation, ni ne rêvait. Il agissait, il se piquait, il se tuait. La destruction, c’est le revers de la foi dans la vie; si un homme, au-delà de dix-huit ans, parvient à se tuer, c’est qu’il est doué d’un certain sens de l’action. Le suicide, c’est la ressource des hommes dont le ressort a été rongé par la rouille du quotidien. Ils sont nés pour l’action, mais ils ont retardé l’action; alors l’action revient sur eux en retour de bâton. Le suicide, c’est un acte, l’acte de ceux qui n’ont pu en accomplir d’autres. C’est un acte de foi, comme tous les actes. Foi dans le prochain, dans l’existence du prochain, dans la réalité des rapports entre moi et le prochain. Je me tue, dit Alain, parce que vous ne m’avez pas aimé, parce que je ne vous ai pas aimés. Je me tue parce que nos rapports furent lâches, pour serrer nos rapports. Je laisserai sur vous une tache indélébile. Je sais bien qu’on vit mieux mort que vivant dans la mémoire de ses amis. Vous ne pensiez pas à moi, eh bien, vous ne m’oublierez jamais» (p. 243). Ce roman, largement autobiographique, a été adapté au cinéma par Louis Malle en 1963, le rôle principal était tenu par Maurice Ronet, qui s’est suicidé en 1983 (H. Mitterand, Dictionnaire des grandes œuvres de la littérature française, p. 246). Drieu était très habile dans l’art de créer une image négative de soi. Ses romans sont des autobiographies qui rapportent ses échecs et véhiculent un profond mépris du milieu bourgeois dont il était issu. Son écriture masque sa personnalité autant qu’elle la révèle. Ses livres ont leur part de vérité et de mensonge, comme il en est de tout matériel autobiographique qui sert à la compréhension d’un suicide.

•  imdb 
• Review

• imdb
• Senses Of Cinema - François Ozon 

 

• imbd
• fortunecity (analyse)

 ”With Sergei Eisenstein`s Battleship Potemkin (1925) the most celebrated film ever made, and probably the more influential of the two, Jean-Luc Godard`s A bout de souffle–literally, “out of breath”; in the States, irrelevantly called Breathless-helped establish and define, for themselves and others, the nouvelle vague-the ripping movement that stormed French cinema, overthrowing the reigning ‘Tradition of Quality’ and its academic, refined, meticulously crafted objets d`art. The movement denoted freedom: freedom from the constraints of conventional, worked-through and tied-up narrative; freedom of personal expression; the freedom of roving and penetrating inquiry-and formally encompassing all these, a freedom of camera motion scarcely seen since Dziga Vertov took to the streets in the ‘20s to record the pulsating synergy of Soviet life.

These young upstarts drew inspiration from Renoir`s lifetime of personal expression, from Hollywood professionalism and (especially in screwball comedies, westerns and noirs) glints of anarchy, and from Rossellini`s use of camera-for instance, in Germany, Year Zero (1947)-as character, even the main character, rather than as mere observer. Theirs was another French Revolution, sweeping out such “royalists” as Autant-Lara and Clément, who at the time were enthroned as arbiters of filmmaking form and taste.”

• imdb
• Reel (analyse)
• allmovie

“Plot Synopsis by Tana HobartWith a superb music score by Django Reinhardt, this is a Louis Malle film about the German occupation of France. Based on his own experiences in France during the occupation, Malle’s film does not paint a pretty picture of the French Resistance and eventually he emigrated to America because of the critical reaction to this film. Essentially the tale of a young boy who wants to join the Resistance but is shunned by them because of his youth, he joins the Gestapo. Unfortunately, he then falls in love with a young Jewish girl. Push comes to shove and he suddenly has the unsympathetic Resistance and the Gestapo hot on his trail. Not a pretty picture of either side”.

Six scenes from Resnais’ masterpiece from 1961 . A genuinely original film, showing the true potential of cinema, a challenge few since have had the courage to follow. In a huge, old-fashioned luxury hotel a stranger tries to persuade a married woman to run away with him, but it seems she hardly remembers the affair they may have had (or not?) last year at Marienbad.

Source: Dailymotion 

Chef-d’œuvre de René Clément (1945). Musique : Yves Baudrier. Grand prix de la Mise en scène et prix du Jury du Festival de Cannes 1946.     

Un monument du cinéma français de l’immédiat après-guerre. Ce qu’on appellerait aujourd’hui un « docu-fiction », montrant et expliquant l’action des cheminots résistants pendant l’Occupation. En 1944, d’ailleurs, « cheminot résistant » devient un pléonasme : personnel roulant, aiguilleurs, chefs de gare, ouvriers, cadres, ingénieurs, presque dans leur intégralité, multiplient les actions de sabotage, de destruction et de retardement des trains allemands, au péril de leur vie, ce qui sera d’une aide précieuse aux Alliés aux cours des combats de la Libération.La distribution comprend une star, invisible, Charles Boyer (le récitant), mais peu d’acteurs professionnels. Les autres sont des cheminots jouant leur propre rôle et des prisonniers allemands. La SNCF a engagé des moyens énormes, prêtant, voire sacrifiant un important matériel au profit de la production.La scène majeure : l’exécution de six otages pris au hasard dans la gare après une série de sabotages. Comme le dit le récitant, « ici s’efface le pouvoir des mots ».

Source: Dailymotion     

AVIS AUX CINÉPHILES               

Le contenu de la dernière partie a été CENSURÉ !              

Orphée [Jean Cocteau], film français en noir et blanc de Jean Cocteau, réalisé en 1950.Un Classique du Cinéma Français avec Jean Marais (top qualité !)       

 

“Audio Rorschach”     

 

“Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus Jean Cocteau’s film Orpheus was released in France in 1949. The actors include: Jean Marais (as Orpheus), Maria Casarès (as the Princess of Death), Marie Déa (as Eurydice), and François Périer (as Heurtibise). The film was written and directed by Jean Cocteau. The cinematography was by Nicolas Hayer, music by Georges Auric, and the film was produced by Emil Darbon.The film is based on the legend of Orpheus. Cocteau narrates an introduction to the film, in which he tells us that, according to legend, Orpheus was a remarkable singer. Orpheus was distracted by his own songs when his wife Eurydice died, and he then descended into Hades where he was reunited with her. They were allowed to leave Hades, on the condition that he not look back at her as they were leaving. But he looked back at her, and she was lost to him forever…As the film opens, the poet Orpheus is sitting in a Parisian café, the Café of the Poets. Another young poet, Jacques Cégeste, arrives, and is accompanied by a mysterious woman known as the Princess. Cégeste is drunk, and gets into a brawl. The police arrive, and when Cégeste resists being arrested, he is run over and killed by a motorcyclist. The motorcylist leaves the scene of the hit-and-run accident.The Princess takes Cégeste’s body away in her limousine, accompanied by Orpheus. The limousine is joined along the road by the group of motorcyclists who apparently killed Cégeste. They arrive at the villa of the Princess. Orpheus demands to know what is going on.The Princess sits in front of a mirror, and it cracks. She raises Cégeste from the dead, and swears him to obey her. She takes Cégeste with her as she walks through a mirror in the wall. Orpheus tries to follow her, but he remains in the real world.Orpheus falls asleep in front of the mirror, and wakes up on a sand dune. He walks toward the limousine of the Princess, and the chauffeur takes him home. Eurydice has heard about the accident, and is worried about where he has been. Eurydice wants to tell Orpheus that she is pregnant, but he is too preoccupied to listen to her. Heurtebise, the chauffeur, talks with Eurydice. They are attracted to each other. Heurtebise tells Eurydice that he has committed suicide over an unhappy love affair. Heurtebise is actually a ghost. The Princess is also a ghost.Orpheus listens to messages that are being transmitted on the radio of the limousine. The messages are being sent from the underworld by Cégeste, the young poet killed in the accident. Orpheus is so preoccupied that Eurydice tells him that if she were to die, he would not notice her.Orpheus catches a glimpse of the Princess, and runs after her, but cannot find her. Eurydice runs out into the road, and is run over by one of the motorcyclists. The Princess and Heurtebise bring Eurydice’s body back to her bedroom.The Princess reveals that, though she is like a ghost, she is an eternal being. Heurtebise is in love with Eurydice, and the Princess is in love with Orpheus. Orpheus is listening to the radio messages in the limousine, and is so preoccupied that he does not hear the warning of Heurtebise that Eurydice is dying.The Princess raises Eurydice from the dead, and leads her through the mirror in the wall of the bedroom. They descend into the underworld. Cégeste follows them, and the mirror closes after they have entered.Heurtebise informs Orpheus that Eurydice is dead. Heurtebise also tells Orpheus that the Princess represents Death, and that mirrors are doors through which Death comes and goes. If you look at yourself in a mirror for long enough, you will see Death appear.Orpheus is so distraught by his wife’s death, that he wants to follow Eurydice into the underworld. Heurtebise gives him a pair of gloves, so that Orpheus can follow Heurtebise through the mirror into the underworld. Orpheus sees his own unhappiness in the mirror, but Heurtebise convinces him to believe in the possibility of entering the underworld, and leaving present-day reality.Orpheus follows Heurtebise through the mirror, and walks in slow-motion through the underworld, as Heurtebise hovers ahead of him, leading the way.The Princess appears before a tribunal. She is accused of having taken her own initiative in bringing Eurydice to the underworld. The panel of judges accuses Heurtebise and the Princess of having had personal reasons for prolonging their stay in the real world. The judges accuse the Princess of wanting Orpheus for herself, and she admits that she loves Orpheus.The judges ask Heurtebise if he loves Eurydice, and Heurtebise admits that he loves her.The judges pronounce the verdict that Orpheus will be freed, on the condition that he is silent about what he has seen in the underworld; and that Eurydice will be released, on the condition that Orpheus never look at her; if he looks at her, he will lose her forever.Orpheus and Eurydice try to comply with the verdict, but when they are back at home they are sitting in their car, and he accidentally sees her in the rear-view mirror. She disappears immediately from the real world.Orpheus is shot in a scuffle with the friends of Cégeste. Heurtebise, along with the motorcyclists who guard the Princess, takes Orpheus away in the limousine. Orpheus is led back to the underworld, where the Princess is waiting for him.Orpheus and Heurtebise float sideways along a wall, and then go flying along a lonely street. Orpheus runs in slow-motion. When he meets the Princess, he embraces her. He tells her that she burns like ice, but she tells him that he still has a human warmth.The Princess sacrifices her endless existence in the dead world, so that Orpheus may return to the living world. He walks backward through the mirror into Eurydice’s bedroom, where the dead Eurydice lays on her bed. Eurydice wakes up, and tells him that she has had a terrible nightmare.Heurtebise watches as they embrace each other. Orpheus and Eurydice rejoice that they are reunited with each other, and that they will have a child.As the film ends, Heurtebise and the Princess are arrested, and are led away by the guards in the underworld.Themes of the film include the contrast between reality and illusion, between dreams and the waking world. The film also deals with the poet’s preoccupation with death and immortality. The Princess (who is Death) is attracted to Orpheus, and he is attracted to her.The film also centers upon the relationship of Orpheus and Eurydice, and the importance of their commitment to each other. Orpheus and Eurydice are each distracted by the illusion of falling in love with others who do not really exist. They return to everyday reality to realize the importance of the love which they feel for each other.”   

Source: bbc.co.uk

“In “The Last Metro”, François Truffaut studies artists struggling against the odds - the artists being a Parisian theatre company and the odds, the Nazis, two years into their occupation of Northern France.

Truffaut sets the scene by telling us that under the occupation, food and fuel are scarce, and people book to go to the theatre, months in advance, often just to keep warm.

When Lucas Steiner (Heinz Bennent), the Jewish owner of the Montparnasse Theatre, is forced into hiding from the Nazis, his gentile wife and lead actress Marion (Catherine Deneuve) takes over. She hires the womanising actor Bernard Granger (Gerard Depardieu) for the lead in their next production, the aptly titled play “Disappearance”, which is to be directed from Lucas’ own notes.

As the film examines the rehearsals and production of the play, against a backdrop of fear and anti-Semitic persecution, Marion’s frustration at the increasing emptiness of her marriage and the tenderness of her acting with Bernard draws her towards him…

Bernard’s membership of the Resistance clashes with Marion’s laissez-faire attitude towards the Nazis, adding to the tension and strains within the company.

As one would expect from lead actors of this quality, Deneuve and Depardieu deliver magnetic performances, and the details of the period are exquisitely observed.

But with few of the director’s idiosyncrasies, this is not one of Truffaut’s more groundbreaking films. However, his uncharacteristically mainstream approach was well received: the film won ten César Awards.

The Curzon Cinema in Soho, London, is featuring a special François Truffaut tribute throughout March and will be taking the season around the country until July.”

• The Music Of Night And Frog

•  Source: imdb

“Called the “greatest film of all time” by director Francois Truffaut, the documentary Night and Fog by Alain Resnais shows the holocaust tragedy in all its horror. Though only thirty minutes in length, the film is devastating in its impact, so approach with caution. Night and Fog refers to the arrival of prisoners in Auschwitz under the cover of darkness and also the ultimate failure of the Nazis at Nuremberg to take responsibility for it. Written by Jean Cayrol, a holocaust survivor, and poetically narrated by Michel Bouquet, its gruesome images seem like a surreal nightmare…

The film opens in 1955 with an image of a barren field of grass with lush romantic music in the background. The scene then abruptly shifts to wartime. We are in Auschwitz and the prisoners are arriving. We are shown scenes shot after liberation that are so shocking that they have never been made public outside of this film. Resnais does not spare us: the hair shaved off the heads of women piled high on the floor, bodies — men -women - children — are tossed in a garbage pit like so much rubbish, their fat used to make soap. The film only lasts a short time, but the images remain indelible. Unwillingness to acknowledge responsibility is depicted in brief scenes of the Nuremberg Trials. As we witness the conscious distortion of the past still going on today, we are left numb.”