Montparnasse 19 is a film of fear. In this sense, it might be subtitled “the mystery of the film-maker”. For in unwittingly investing Modigliani’s unbalanced mind with his own perturbation, Jacques Becker – clumsily, admittedly, but infinitely movingly – allows us to penetrate the secret of artistic creation more effectively than [Henri-Georges] Clouzot did by filming Picasso at work [Le Mystère Picasso, 1956]. After all, if a modern novel is fear of the blank page, a modern painting fear of the empty canvas, and modern sculpture fear of the stone, a modern film has the right to be fear of the camera, fear of the actors, fear of the dialogue, fear of the montage. I would give the whole of post-war French cinema for that one shot, badly acted, badly composed, but sublime, in which Modigliani [Gérard Philipe] asks five francs for his drawings on the terrace of the Coupole. Then, but only then, everything pleases in this displeasing film. Everything rings true in this totally false film. Everything is illuminated in this obscure film. For he who leaps into the void owes no explanation to those who watch. J-L. Godard, “Leap into the Void”, in Godard on Godard.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 10:27:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015