This absorbing biopic deals with Gerard Blain as a director ;only two of his movies as an actor are mentioned : an extract of Chabrol 's "le beau serge" and pictures of Duvivier's film noir extraordinaire "voici le temps des assassins"
In an interview before his death ,Blain had harsh words against the Nouvelle Vague : "they did not invent anything ,filming on location was already used in the silent age , they did not direct the actors ...." ; "Duvivier found me in a bistro and Jean Gabin insisted he do not replace me "; this and mainly Bresson's influence led Blain to hire non-professional actors for his own movies ,with the staggering exceptions of Robert Stack -he probably loved Douglas Sirk's movies ,as many cine buffs in France- , Michel Subor and Sophie Desmarets .A brief hint at his stint in Hollywood (Howard Hawks' "Hatari")
All his movies are mentioned ,with the exception of his Comtesse de Ségur MTV adaptation "la fortune de Gaspard " ; Paul ,his son ,who starred in his final achievement ,"ainsi soit-il" , shows a striking resemblance with his father (even more in the film ,for he was younger)
His first movie ," les amis" depicted a gay relationship between a forty-something and a young man in search of a father and sets the tone for the films to come ;Blain 's bald style is already here: the accident , only a noise is heard , and that's it. "Le pelican " ,probably his masterpiece ,showed the love of a father for his son as never before ,a love which the society won't allow since he is an ex-convict.(the first meeting with the boy accompanied by an au pair girl goes straight to the heart )
"Un enfant dans la foule" , largely autobiographical ,is considered his most accessible work , suitable for mainstream audience ; it contains one of the most compassionate picture of the whole French cinema : a teenager lays his hand on a naked closely-cropped woman after the liberation of Paris in WW2 : no eroticism ,only sympathy for the suffering .
"Le rebelle " is Blain 's cri du coeur against a society that allows to turn a human being into a prostitute ( scene when Michel Subor offers the miserable prole a job in exchange for homosexual relations ) ; the brief moments of happiness between the young man and his sisters are all the more precious since they are probably the last .
"Pierre et Djemilah " was unfairly accused of racism whereas it depicted one particular situation of intolerant religious fundamentalism .
The nineties were Blain 's rebellion ;and the only way to take a rebel stand in a society where dough is God is to become a gangster ;hence his rebellion masquerading as a traditional thriller ,complete with hostage-taking ,ransom and doomed couple .His final work ,"ainsi soit-il " , featured his son Paul (who participates in the doc ) .
Very bressonesque ,but with more restrained emotion , Blain's whole body of work revolves around the longing for a family -his father left home when he was young- , hatred for the intolerant adults (hence the title) , and their society based on money ; the tormented soul of the French cinema. Few filmographies had this overall coherence.
In an interview before his death ,Blain had harsh words against the Nouvelle Vague : "they did not invent anything ,filming on location was already used in the silent age , they did not direct the actors ...." ; "Duvivier found me in a bistro and Jean Gabin insisted he do not replace me "; this and mainly Bresson's influence led Blain to hire non-professional actors for his own movies ,with the staggering exceptions of Robert Stack -he probably loved Douglas Sirk's movies ,as many cine buffs in France- , Michel Subor and Sophie Desmarets .A brief hint at his stint in Hollywood (Howard Hawks' "Hatari")
All his movies are mentioned ,with the exception of his Comtesse de Ségur MTV adaptation "la fortune de Gaspard " ; Paul ,his son ,who starred in his final achievement ,"ainsi soit-il" , shows a striking resemblance with his father (even more in the film ,for he was younger)
His first movie ," les amis" depicted a gay relationship between a forty-something and a young man in search of a father and sets the tone for the films to come ;Blain 's bald style is already here: the accident , only a noise is heard , and that's it. "Le pelican " ,probably his masterpiece ,showed the love of a father for his son as never before ,a love which the society won't allow since he is an ex-convict.(the first meeting with the boy accompanied by an au pair girl goes straight to the heart )
"Un enfant dans la foule" , largely autobiographical ,is considered his most accessible work , suitable for mainstream audience ; it contains one of the most compassionate picture of the whole French cinema : a teenager lays his hand on a naked closely-cropped woman after the liberation of Paris in WW2 : no eroticism ,only sympathy for the suffering .
"Le rebelle " is Blain 's cri du coeur against a society that allows to turn a human being into a prostitute ( scene when Michel Subor offers the miserable prole a job in exchange for homosexual relations ) ; the brief moments of happiness between the young man and his sisters are all the more precious since they are probably the last .
"Pierre et Djemilah " was unfairly accused of racism whereas it depicted one particular situation of intolerant religious fundamentalism .
The nineties were Blain 's rebellion ;and the only way to take a rebel stand in a society where dough is God is to become a gangster ;hence his rebellion masquerading as a traditional thriller ,complete with hostage-taking ,ransom and doomed couple .His final work ,"ainsi soit-il " , featured his son Paul (who participates in the doc ) .
Very bressonesque ,but with more restrained emotion , Blain's whole body of work revolves around the longing for a family -his father left home when he was young- , hatred for the intolerant adults (hence the title) , and their society based on money ; the tormented soul of the French cinema. Few filmographies had this overall coherence.