Journeys Through French Cinema

Closing out his “exercise in admiration and gratitude” from an even more personal perspective, Tavernier recounts firsthand experiences from his 10 rewarding years as press attaché to and with legendary producer and publicist Pierre Rissient. Through the turbulent 1960s, the duo promoted American filmmakers while also shoring up French ones. Tavernier shares with us epiphanies he had with directors including but not limited to Eric Rohmer (narrating 1962’s La Boulangère de Monceau); the intensely loyal Jacques Deray; the gone-too-soon Philippe Fourastié; Pierre Granier-Deferre, who provided invaluable insight into how to direct actors; and Alain Resnais, whom Tavernier had idolized since seeing Hiroshima mon amour three times at age 18 and was proud to later count as a friend. Concluding the series in style, Tavernier surprises us by excerpting one final film that he cherishes...

In seeking to upgrade his own outmoded perspective on several filmmakers, Tavernier credits critic/programmer Patrick Brion and other writers for early and often championing directors who—decades after their heyday—were finally restored the respect they deserve. Tavernier revisits the oeuvres of Maurice Tourneur, whose crime tales were both bemusedly observational and authentic; Anatole Litvak, who stunned with his dynamic camera choices; Raymond Bernard, who made the groundbreaking 1932 epic Wooden Crosses on real-life WWI battlefields; René Clair, warmly chronicling a now-vanished working-class Paris; and — encoring after Episode 3 — comedy and musical specialist Jean Boyer, whose additional career as lyricist in collaboration with popular composer Georges van Parys make for tuneful rediscoveries.

Discussing the artistic and political atmosphere during the German occupation, Tavernier explores the ways in which French cinema was enriched by foreign talent as many directors, cinematographers, and technicians forced to leave their native countries for political reasons settled in France. Using a selection of illuminating clips, Tavernier illustrates how the majority of films made during this period upheld a powerful spirit of resistance against the anti-Semitic Vichy regime and dealt with difficult topics head-on. Filmmakers discussed include Viktor Tourjanski, Robert Siodmak, Jean-Paul Le Chanois, Albert Valentin, and André Cayatte.

In part two of his discussion of influential filmmakers, Tavernier explores the formal and thematic approaches of Sacha Guitry, Marcel Pagnol, Jacques Tati, and Robert Bresson. The first two directors were introduced to Tavernier through the writings of Francois Truffaut, who championed their style as modernist despite the naysaying of the majority of critics at the time. Tavernier notes the ways in which Guitry’s playful self-reflexivity in particular paved the way for the New Wave. Despite their differences in style and tone, Tavernier is a great admirer of both Bresson and Tati. Using clips from THE DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST, A MAN ESCAPED, MR. HULOT’S HOLIDAY, PLAYTIME and more, he draws parallels between the ways the two filmmakers utilize space in the frame, and manage to balance realism and fable.