Retrospective aims to raise late French filmmaker out of obscurity
By Devon Dickau
Feb. 2, 2005 9:00 p.m.
To be original, to be creative, to hold an influential role in
the time line of art history sometimes means not having your work
appreciated at the time it is produced. For French filmmaker
Maurice Pialat, this couldn’t be more true.
Now, after his 2003 death at the age of 77, Pialat’s
presence in film is only growing in popularity. The UCLA Film and
Television Archive, TV5 and the Consulate General of France in Los
Angeles are currently running a retrospective of all of 10 of his
films.
“Pialat is not that well known in this country, but
he’s a crucial part of French film history. We wanted to do a
retrospective, even before his death,” said David Pendleton,
programmer for the Archive.
Produced between 1968 (“L’Enfance nue”) and
1995 (“Le Garcu”), the films will screen at the UCLA
James Bridges Theater as the Los Angeles stop in a U.S. tour
designed to bring the best prints of Pialat’s features to
American audiences ““ in some cases, for the first time.
Pialat, unlike many filmmakers of the French New Wave, did not
start to make feature films until well into adulthood. Filmmaking
was his highest pleasure, but Pialat was an actor and painter as
well. Early in his life he made documentaries, and eventually
turned to feature films.
But it was only in the last few years that American critics
began to take note of Pialat’s several decades of work.
Though often critical and sometimes commercial successes, his
feature films were mostly shown in Europe. In fact, his last film
did not even get a U.S. release.
“Pialat has recently become a name among film writers, and
yet his films are still little seen,” said Dan Sallitt, a
film critic and American filmmaker who dedicated his last film,
“All the Ships at Sea,” to the memory of Pialat.
“He is in the process of passing directly from relative
obscurity to the status of a great master, without ever having gone
through a period of reappraisal and gradual
appreciation.”
Widely recognized as the bridge between French New Wave and
contemporary French cinema, Pialat’s works have contributed
greatly to that nation’s film style today. His effect may not
be blatant, but his daring outlook, realism and willingness to take
risks are expressed by way of more internationally popular French
filmmakers today.
“Many of the French films in the ’80s were splashy
and bright. Pialat’s films are not big-budget extravaganzas;
they are very human-scaled and intense. Not a lot happens on the
surface, but a lot is happening on the frame between the
characters,” Pendleton said.
Pialat’s “realism,” led by autobiographical
tendency and experience with documentary, was not only unique, but
revolutionary. The new style does not attract popular viewership,
however.
“Wide audiences usually don’t come to filmmakers who
deal with painful subjects and actively undercut the dramatic
aspects of their work,” Sallitt said. “(Pialat) tries
to generate a great deal of contradictory material on his
characters, playing with improvisation and drawing on biographical
and autobiographical material. He then assembles this material in
an imbalanced way, with big chunks of time removed from the story,
and the characters’ contradictions emphasized rather than
explained. (But) what he sacrifices in drama, he makes up in a
powerful sense of immediacy.”
According to Bill Krohn, author and Hollywood correspondent for
Cahiers du Cinéma, distributors are also to blame. They buy
what sells.
“Distributors prefer films about people eating fabulous
food and carrying on a witty conversation at the same time,”
he said. “Or they’ll pick up something with a lot of
kinky sex in it. Pialat’s case isn’t
exceptional.”
Despite his relative obscurity, Pialat leaves behind an
unforgettable legacy. According to Pendleton, the filmmaker’s
legacy is one “of a commitment to a free kind of filmmaking
““ one that is not spelled out for us; we have to discover it
as we watch the film.”
“Under Satan’s Sun” will screen on Feb. 5 at
7:30 p.m., followed by “Police.” The series will
conclude with his most recent films, “Van Gogh” and
“Le Garcu,” on Feb. 6 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.,
respectively.
“The Pialat era will last a long time,” Krohn said.
“But he and his descendants will always be marginalized by
the mainstream French and arthouse cinema.”
Even in mainstream world cinema, Pialat may be gone, but he is
certainly not forgotten.
“One hopes that his death will cement his standing in the
critical world, so that these great films will continue to be
shown,” Sallitt said.
