BEST MOVIES OF 2010 -- so far

[Chris Knipp]

Indeed.

Until recently I hadn't realized Jacques Doillon is rather prolific and well known in France. Some of his films are about kids, but the new one I saw in April, Marriage à trois, is totally different, a sophisticated, talky film like a stage play. So I don't have much of a grasp of who he is (both French and US Wikipedia have only stubs on him) but Ponette remains his best known.

[oscar jubis]

Doillon blames his fringe status on his failing to graduate from high school. I think he means he was outside certain social circles by virtue of class and level of education. He is a kind of self-made director who is on the outside of France's mainstream film industry. Most of his films have only had limited distribution in France and they seldom feature actors of significant fame (his latest appears to be an exception). From my readings: there is a consensus that his main theme is familial discord, from a youth's perspective. I don't know his work to be able to comment. I have only seen Petit Freres, ponette, and Raja (and maybe The 15 year-old Girl, but not sure). I definitely want to see more.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. I'm not sure I'd put too much store by the idea that Doillon is somehow outside the mainstream. France is a little country kind to minor filmmakers. Doillon is of was married to Jane Birkin, a national figure, the famous wife of Serge Gainsbourg, and he is a professor at the prestigious film school Le Fémis, and you can't get much more insider than that. However, his new film was shown at MK2 Beaubourg, which is one of MK2's film buff venues in Paris like MK2 Hautfeuille, rather than one of the big ones like MK2 Monparnasse or MK2 Nation or St. Germain. But there was a big article about the new film in Le Monde.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. I'm not sure however that I'd put too much store by the idea that Doillon is somehow outside the mainstream. France is a little country kind to minor filmmakers. Doillon is the son of Jane Birkin, a national figure, the famous wife of Serge Gainsbourg, and he is a professor at the prestigious film school Le Fémis, and you can't get much more insider than that. However, his new film was shown at MK2 Beaubourg, which is one of MK2's film buff venues in Paris like MK2 Hautfeuille, rather than one of the big ones like MK2 Monparnasse or MK2 Nation or St. Germain. But there was a big article about the new film in Le Monde. Besides "familial discord, from a youth's perspective," he has done various films about adult love relationships. I have found a one-page discussion of him on a French film buff website, CinemaPassion. He must have finished high school since he was a philosophy student at the university but he "dropped out to enter the work force." Shortly thereafter he made a stream of films to order for government agencies. He is good, they say, as we might guess, at directing teenagers, but women are another of his big subjects. Far from only directing unknowns he has worked with Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Béatrice Dalle, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin, Melvil Poupaud, Yvan Attal (Charlotte's husband)l, Jean-Louis Trintignant and André Dussollier, Sandrine Bonnaire, Michel Piccoli, Sabine Azéma, and Agnes Jaoui, besides recently Louis Garrel, Pascal Greggory and Julie Depardieu. Apparently his first big success was The Year 01 in 1973, which starred Gérard Depardieu, Thierry Lhermitte, and Patrice Leconte. I think he is significant, highly regarded, and hard to classify. But there is not enough information about him in either the English or French Wikipedias.

[oscar jubis]

Doillon has not had the same exposure in France and here as other directors of comparable talent who emerged around the same time. I don't know why. In his Petit Freres review, The Chicago Reader's Fred Camper quotes Doillon as saying:"Because I failed high school, I have always been on the fringe". He was almost an unknown to the average film buff (like me) until Ponette. Of course, he was better known in France than abroad. But he had a status similar to Luc Moullet, who was at Cahiers in the 50s, started a career in filmmaking in the 60s but even folks who love the Nouevelle Vague have not seen his films. Obviously you proved Doillon's relative marginality is not related to the actors starring in his films.

[Chris Knipp]

Doillon has not had the same exposure in France and here as other directors of comparable talent who emerged around the same time.

That is probably true, though of course "of comparable talent" is a rating open to different interpretations. I've proved Doillon's relative marginality is less marginal, because using a lot of famous actors shows Doillon is fully a member of the French filmmaking community. In what sense then is he marginal? Only in not being seen by a majority of French moviegoers. But that goes for many of the most importand French directors. Mollet, who is seven years older and was on the fringes of the Nouvelle Vague, seems more of a cult figure and a man who has by choice and sensibility worked more on is own.

For details of a French director's life, like Doillon's educational history, The Chicago Reader may not be the best source of information. If Doillon dropped out of high school, as I say he evidently survived to drop out of university later on too, and whether that choice adversely affected his ability to make films seems uncertain. His being on the faculty of Le Fémis again shows him to be a member of the French cinema elite, and in a country where the filmmaking process works differently than in the US, "mainstream" status would mean something different, and perhaps is less important.

But we can agree we need to know more about Doillon. Both directors are quite well known in France at least to people who care about film, and in France that's a relatively large slice of the population. Maybe some day we will be able to sample or watch all the films by all the known directors of the major filmmaking countries. Wouldn't that be nice? Meanwhile, a lot of French films by important directors remain accessible only if you go to Europe or order expensive DVDs not in the US region code and wade through them without subtitles in many cases.

[oscar jubis]

There have been occasional, less than comprehensive Doillon retrospectives in the US. Here's a link the latest one: http://www.fiaf.org/french%20film/wi...-doillon.shtml

"We had the misfortune to come after the New Wave, Because of the New Wave, we remained marginal."
Jacques Doillon

Here's a brief interview on the ocassion of the retrospective: The New Yorker

[Chris Knipp]

I wish you'd linked to the Richard Brody piece in the first place. I don't know why I missed it. So now we know that he declares to have been marginalized (though if that applies to any French director after the New Wave, it doesn't make much sense), and that he has had a hard time getting his films made, with great limitations, but within those, considerable freedom, but now, the TV producers rule, and he finds much less freedom.

And so, between the Advance and Canal Plus, we were able to get some money. Say, 400,000 francs. And, with not enough money to make a film, we made a film.

A certain kind of film, with two or three characters, a small crew. We were very limited. But within these limits, we had remarkable freedom.

Today the system has become an obstacle. Now we’re isolated in a way that we weren’t in the eighties.

It’s a little desperate. In the eighties I made ten films. Despite everything. It wasn’t comfortable, it wasn’t easy, I had to fight. Now the bosses are television, and they all want to make what will work in prime time.

However, we have seen some nice films made in France in recent years for television. Or at least I think so.