My Journey Through French Cinema

I have always loved the French cinema, literature, and culture; my great grandfather was French; I am fluent and French was one of my subjects at universty; and I have steadily collected French films, totalling more than 100.

So when I saw this DVD on sale, I pounced. Alas, while I do not regret buying it, I have found it lacking, especially compared to Martin Scorcese's earlier effort relating to US and Italian cinema, which was far more enlightening, situating each film in its time and context.

VOYAGE A TRAVERS LE CINEMA FRANÇAIS is a mélée of Tavernier's own recollections, and relations with directors and actors, and you see interesting snippets, but ultimately it is Tavernier's own fun.

To me, the single most memorable piece of information in this compilation was Tavernier explaining that the defect in his right eye was caused by tuberculosis at a young age. I find it hard to forgive that he dismissed a masterpiece like Jean-Pierre Melville's LE CERCLE ROUGE but praised a dud like UN SINGE EN HIVER.

Unless you have actually watched the films that appear in this compilation, you are bound to feel frustrated.

Is it recommended and useful to persons studying theory of film, history of cinema etc? Yes, certainly. Is it interesting, and enlightening about how to better understand cinema in general? Yes. But.... it is a very personal, Tavernier's history of French cinema, which means it is subjective and ultimately frustrating. I think "personal Bertrand Tavernier's" should have been included in the title, so that viewers don't feel misled and frustrated. For example, he spends a lot of time on the actor Jean Gabin or the director Melville but ignores many important and interesting personalities of French cinema, like Jean Vigo, Robert Bresson, Truffault, Delon, Deneuve, Auteil and many, many others. He spends short few minutes on Godard... and ignores the phenomenon of the French Nouvelle Vague altogether. And not one word is mentioned about modern French cinema in the 21st century. These 191 minutes (!) are worth your while, but also frustrating.

The excellent director, Bernard Tavernier ("Coup de Torchon") discusses his fondness for particular films and admiration for particular directors and actors. But it is not any sort of comprehensive study: the emphasis is on "my" not "French cinema." Accounting for his own career and obsessions, Tavernier is especially fond of gangster yarns, inspired by American crime movies and/or westerns. He reminds us of some important filmmakers and their achievements. It is important to bring along into the 21st century some forgotten excellent works of the 20th century. But the brief remarks and clips only serve to remind us of what we're missing. Many fine filmmakers such as Rene Clair, Rene Clement, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, Alain Resnais and Luc Besson are not discussed.

Sure looks and sounds like Tavernier took this trip with Tarantino as his constant companion, huh? In other words we spend way too much time in the crime/noir room of the Gallic movie mansion. I mean, I don't mind that certain of my favorite directors, like Malle and Truffaut, are given extremely short shrift. That's bound to happen whenever your personal list is put alongside someone else's. But not to balance Jean Gabin with, say, Simone Signoret or Danielle Darrieux or Jeanne Moreau but rather pairing him in the actor category with Eddie Friggin Constantine is to let one's love of one particular genre, to mention nothing of one's sexism, overwhelm one's good sense. And did you notice the lack of humor or whimsy in Tavernier's selections? Not a comedy or a musical to be seen anywhere in this guy's dark field of vision. Again, Tati and Demy are not my favorite French film makers but shouldn't they at least be mentioned somewhere along this particular excursion?

We now come to the "however" part of my review or: Why I Give It A 7 'Stead of a 6? First off, I learned a lot. Got a new appreciation of film makers like Becker and Sautet as well as a crash course in the superiority of French movie music scoring of the 1930s/40s versus that of Hollywood. Second, I enjoyed Tavernier's ability to admire a director without undue hagiography as in his affectionate but clear eyed portrait of Melville, in my opinion the best part of the documentary. And finally there is no denying that Tavernier is a most engaging guide, by turns relaxed, intense, self deprecating and always generous and warm in his assessments. Give it a B minus.

I saw it as a beautiful confession. Subjective out of doubts. But charming exactly for the public exposure of stories, enthusiasm, choices, stories, portraits, fragments of films. A nice trip across French cinema, having as pleasant guide Bertrand Tavernier. Confession of an admirable director, it can be not the expected film. But it is ot exactly a list of must see films but bricks of a long way to understand , love and make cinema.