The Lumiere brothers invented the
motion picture camera in 1895 and made the first films
somewhere around this time. In "Lumiere et
Compagnie,"
this is considered common knowledge and not even
discussed. Instead, to commemorate this birthday, a film
was planned using the 100 year old camera. 40
international film directors were invited to make their
own short movie using the original Lumiere camera. The
remarkable pieces, from this diverse group of
filmmakers, is astounding viewing.
The directors included here are
Merzak Allouache, Theo Angelopoulos, Vincente Aranda,
Gabriel Axel, J.J. Bigas Luna, John Boorman, Youssef
Chahine, Alain Corneau, Costa-Gavras, Raymond Depardon,
Jaco van Dormael, Francis Girod, Peter Greenaway, Lasse
Hallstrom, Michael Haneke, Hugh Hudson, James Ivory,
Gaston Kabore, Abbas Kiarostami, Cedric Klapisch, Andrei
Konchalovsky, Patrice Leconte, Spike Lee, Claude Lelouch, David Lynch, Ismail Merchant, Claude Miller,
Idrissa Ouedrago, Arthur Penn, Lucian Pintilie, Jacques
Rivette, Helma-Sanders Brahms, Jerry Schatzberg, Nadine
Trigtinant, Fernando Trueba, Liv Ullman, Regis Wargnier,
Wim Wenders, Yoshishige Yoshida, Yimou Zhang.
There were three rules set up by
the producers, most of which had to do with the
constraints of the camera itself. One - their films
would be 52 seconds, a single roll of the film which can
fit in the camera. Two - No synchronized sound could be
used (although many of the pieces use soundtracks that
are fairly close just as some use no sound and others
"wild tracks") and there is a maximum of three takes
(although it is shown that one director got four).
Content, style, story (if any) were left entirely up to
each individual filmmaker. And the result is a collage
of cinematic wonder that must be witnessed to be fully
appreciated. In using this antiquated filmmaking
technique, the finished product becomes even more
original, even more artistic, even more profound. More
than just homage or novelties, the finished works here
are highly stylized, wonderful art "shorts." Ah, but
even this is inadequate to describe them. They hit a
nerve with us. They become a representation of film for
the last 100 years and in doing this, they becomes
representations of life itself. The whole sociological
history of life on Earth these past hundred years
somehow seems to be fully realized here.
There is so many pieces, close to
40 I presume, and their varied content so unique that it
is impossible to discuss them all here. The film begins
with two Lumiere pieces. The first is a little girl
taking precarious steps (much like the first
filmmakers). This is soon followed by "L'Arrivee d'un
train a la Ciotat," a film which is forever ingrained in
cinema history because of the unique story of it's first
exhibition when film was still a new novelty. When it
was first shown by the Lumieres, almost all the audience
had never seen a film before. When the train arrives,
moving toward the camera on screen, the audience
panicked, thinking it was a real train headed for them.
This piece is soon paid homage to by an updated piece
from one of the participants. The effect is astounding.
Devoid of sound and unnerving in it's motionlessness, a
seeming abandoned train platform is shown, and if it
isn't the exact spot where the original Lumiere film
took place, it sure looks like it. Finally, the film
comes to life when a train, a modern sleek one, passes
on screen. Instead of stopping, as in the original, it
simply speeds by. Instead of being peopled with citizens
as in the original, here in modern times, the train
station is abandoned. It makes a profound statement.
The pieces continue, although they
are all broken by modern color video of the making of
the Lumieres. (More about this in a moment). Many pieces
stand out. A kiss between a young couple, who look like
they have Downes Syndrome, recalls the beauty and the
stillness of Andy Warhol's early film. (His first series
of films being portraits and one- shots of couples
kissing). This stillness seems prevalent in almost all
of the films. Strangely, the films often have the
participants look directly in the camera, as if
recalling early silent films and our own home movies.
The effect can be quite eerie as often as it can be
humorous or quaint.
Two of the films of the Asian
filmmakers and one by a Spanish director are political,
if others aren't indeed also. The Asian filmmakers use
the medium to study Hiroshima, one as a tribute using
children at a memorial that is astounding. The piece
begins in sky, which is white in black and white Lumiere
photography (recalling the bomb blast), before moving to
children running towards a memorial. The youths throw
flowers on the memorial and then the camera begins to
dolly toward an empty park bench, obviously symbolizing
those lost in the attack, before panning back to the
children at the memorial, who in turn run joyously back
toward the bench (and at the camera). A couple of
youngsters get up on the bench and jump off in joyous
reverie for those lost. It is an astounding piece,
lasting, of course, 52 seconds.
Many of the pieces celebrate
filmmaking with a tribute to a lighting director (Louis
Couchet) and a tribute to Sven Nykvist (starring him as
well). Often times the camera shows us a camera looking
back or a camera filming other things. A scene by John
Boorman includes a bit of the filming of "Michael
Collins." Peter Greenaway's piece is an artistic tribute
to not only the Lumieres, but also the passage of a
century.
The most amusing pieces in the film
come from the Africans. One piece also looks at
filmmaking in a way but, as is probably more true from
their view, the piece is more about the film coming to
their local theater rather than a film being made. One
of the others involves a waterside event where a joke is
played on a local swimmer that is so amusing it caused
me to actually laugh out loud.
But the most awesome piece in the
film is surely the next to the last, the piece by David
Lynch. Recalling his sordid worlds of "Blue Velvet" and
"Twin Peaks," the film also recalls his "Eraserhead."
Lynch may cheat a little (it is not clear if he stops
the camera and moves it for a moment), but the fished
piece is astounding. The murder of a young woman is
explored with remarkable intensity and in pure Lynchian
terms in the short allotted time. It is a beautiful
piece that simply must be seen by anyone who admires the
director.
The pieces of Lumiere film shorts
from each directors is broken up by scenes of these
artists making the pieces we see. Often, we get to watch
a director at work, shouting instructions for 52 seconds
or so and then in turn watch the finished product and
suddenly glean what he was shouting about. Also, the
filmmakers are asked questions throughout including: Why
are you doing this? Why do you make films? and Are films
immortal? The answers, as varied as the pieces these men
produce, are insightful, interesting and
significant.
"Lumiere et
Compagnie" reflects
filmmaking in no uncertain terms. It has joy, humor,
politics, history, art, imagery, symbolism, and diverse
culturalism. It is more than just a simple celebration
of the invention of the camera. "Lumiere et
Compagnie,"
in no uncertain terms, is film itself.
Note: Finished document is directed
by Sarah Moon.
There are appearances in the film
by Bruno Ganz, Francois Mitterand, Sven Nykvist, Lena
Olin, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan Rickman, Max Von
Sydow, and Liam Neesom, among many others. Almost every
filmmaker involved is shown, if not all. Some do not get
interviewed, others speak quite verbosely.
Lumiere Cinematography by Didier
Ferry and Phillippe Poulet. Music by Jean-Jaques Lemetre. A piece by George Bizet from "Carmen," as well
as a piece by Franz Schubert, a piece by Johan Strauss
and a piece by Bernard Herrmann are used. The Lynch
piece uses music by he and Angelo Baadalamenti. A Billie
Holiday song is also used.
The piece by Alain Corneau seems to
be hand tinted, as was often done by early filmmakers,
in particular George Melies.
A total of seven shorts by the
Brothers Lumiere are used in the film.
In my Encyclopedia Americana from
the 70's, it claims the brothers were chemists and
invented the first film projector which could exhibit a
motion picture to a large audience. They also invented a
technique for color photography. One of them was quite
interested in working on cancer treatments.
From WWW.FILETHIRTEEN.COM
<
BACK