Francophile Matthew Cobb tells me that French filmmaker Chris Marker (real name: Christian Francois Bouche-Velleneuve) died in Paris on July 29 at age 91. Even if you’ve never heard of him, you’ve seen his influence, noted by boston.com:
Marker was a photographer, novelist, documentarian, and multimedia artist, but he’s probably best known for 1962’s “La Jetée,” the 28-minute short that influenced an entire generation of filmmakers. “The Matrix” wouldn’t exist without it and Terry Gilliam famously expanded Marker’s storyline into 1995’s “Twelve Monkeys,” but the original obviously needs to be met on its own terms. Certainly there was nothing remotely like “La Jetee” when it came out in ’62: A post-apocalyptic sci-fi romance told almost entirely in black-and-white still photographs. The one exception — the one shot that moves — remains one of the most gracefully hair-raising moments in the history of the medium, and it encapsulates Marker’s obsession with time and memory, as well as his choice of film as the medium best suited to explore both.
You can watch the 26-minute movie “La Jetée” (“The Jetty”, with dubbed English narration) in its entirety here. I can’t embed it, but here’s Marker’s short documentary of a cat listening to music:
Matthew adds this:
He was famous in filmic and French circles. He did a brilliant but gruelling documentary about the politics of the 60s and 70s on a world scale called Le Fond de l’Air est Rouge (“The background/base of the air is red”; English title A Grin Without A Cat). The Wikipedia entry is succinct, but says “There are many subtle references to cats throughout the film, as well as brief shots of raccoons: (the raccoons are being shot as I recall).
The rotten tomatoes website gives a better translation of Le Fond de l’air – “the essence of the air is red”. It also makes some good points about the film.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/le-fond-de-lair-est-rouge-a-grin-without-a-cat-the-base-of-the-air-is-red/
Beautiful video of a cat.
“Le fond de l’air est rouge” is based on a well-nigh untranslatable wordplay.
“Le fond de l’air est frais is an idiomatic expression meaning “there’s a chill in the air”. One would say that about deceptive sunshine: “The sun shines bright, but careful, le fond de l’air est frais, there’s a chill in the air, you could catch a cold.”
There’s more to it: the idiom has become an ironic flag for an embarrassed attempt to change the subject, or to shift the discussion to less dangerous topics, especially when one has nothing to say. It has become proverbial thanks to the work of cartoonist (whoops! auteur de bande dessinée! not the same thing at all!) Fred, who immortalised it. Fred also wrote for Jacques Dutronc the lyrics to a satirical song by the same title, which has achieved cult status.
So when Chris Marker swapped “frais” for “rouge”, he entered a rich semiotic minefield.
The “esprit du temps” was still perceived as radical-left, but the chill was already in the air. Marker’s film marks (pun intended) the end of the revolutionary idyll, the melancholic realisation of its illusion, and one of the first left-wing critiques of May ’68 and its consequences. Contrast “Le fond de l’air est rouge” with his earlier, up-beat “¡Cuba Sí!”.
The off-voices are also significant: Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Jorge Semprún, Régis Debray, François Périer, all former left-wing militants or fellow-travellers, occasionally Stalinist hardliners, who were all overtaken by May ’68 and eventually shed their illusions and most of their erstwhile sympathies.
If I were to translate Marker’s film title, I’d go for “Crimson chill”.
Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.
“La Jetée” is just a beautiful film. It’s rare to call science-fiction poignant, but this is an example.
Both Marker’s “La Jetée” and its “remake”/expansion “12 Monkeys” have allusions to Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” (not precisely the same ones) which just bumped “Citizen Kane” out of the #1 spot on the Sight and Sound poll as noted here last week.
Cool video.
La Jetee and another of Marker’s films are available on DVD in a Criterion Collection boxed set. I first saw La Jetee on public television (probably WTTW Chicago) in the early 1970s, and it knocked me out.
Should also mention his videographic essay “Sans Soleil” (1983). Beguiling, original, flush with observations both profound (“We rewrite memory much as history is rewritten; how can one remember thirst?”) and playful (“By the way, did you know that there are emus in the Île-de-France?”). A masterpiece.