Present in New York for a retrospective of her long career in several major cinemas in the city, including the Lincoln Center and the Angelika, Catherine Breillat showed, once again, that she enjoys great popularity in a country more than ever confronted with conservatism and the rise of radical groups. The French director ofAnatomy of HellofAbuse of weakness and of Last summer received a warm welcome, to the great delight of film buffs who came to see and learn a little more about his works and his vision of the seventh art.
From our correspondent in New York,
” If this retrospective had taken place in another state, like Florida for example, or in Texas, we would certainly have had hundreds of demonstrators at the entrance to the Lincoln Center and Angelika cinemas with placards saying that Catherine Breillat is a devil, and that her works are toxic for the country’s youth. ! ” laughs Cassandra Jones, Francophile and great fan of the French director’s films, with whom she has just spoken after the screening of Last summer.
With more than 50 scheduled screenings of all her works, as well as discussions with the many film buffs who came to see up close one of the most provocative French directors of the last forty years, the tribute to Catherine Breillat was a huge success. When we had the opportunity to program a retrospective in homage to Breillat, we didn’t hesitate for a second. “, says Maddie Whittle, co-head of programming at Lincoln Center, ” Some of his films have already been screened in the past, including Last summer and people loved its provocative, unfiltered side, and the fact that it tackles subjects that are taboo or almost invisible in American films, such as sexuality, family tensions, but also desire among young people. “.
In a tense American society, torn between the presidential elections and a social tension of rare intensity, where ultraconservative groups are pushing in several places in the country to limit freedom of expression on subjects such as sex and diversity, the tribute to Breillat comes as an oasis, a breath of fresh air for a good number of people.
” We know that New York is a kind of laboratory, a place where artistic expression should have no limits, but it is threatened nonetheless, even here. “, explains sociologist John Hendry, who works at New York University and is a big fan of Breillat, ” see Breillat’s films and so many people attend the screenings, it’s a great thing, because it talks, puts into images and sound social issues, and themes that absolutely need to be talked about. Relationships, sex, family problems, they’re in everyone’s life. Making films on these kinds of subjects is essential in my opinion, because it’s unfiltered, and it’s real life “.
Certainly, the scenes of sex and violence have caused some people to react with “ Ohhhhh!! ” And ” Ahhh!! » or even of ” Oh my God !!! ” during several sessions, but the reception and realism of the Frenchwoman’s films seduces, even among novices. ” I didn’t know her films, I had been warned, because it’s direct and straightforward, violence, sex and no taboos. It’s a bit rough, but I think it’s useful to have films like Breillat’s, because she doesn’t limit herself, she explores possibilities. “, analyzes Elisabeth, retired, leaving one of the sessions of Romance.
Breillat, at the antipodes of the taboos of American cinema
Breillat’s career has been the subject of much discussion in France for over forty years, but the high visibility and recognition of her peers and the national public has allowed the director to be one of the great references of French cinema. The sexual and relational “no filter” that she constantly evokes in her films is accepted and appreciated in France, and a certain curiosity on the part of American fans allows the Frenchwoman to make a place for herself among fans of the seventh art on this side of the Atlantic.
” Breillat has no equivalent here, because she is ultra-progressive in a way and American society, for the most part, remains puritanical and the weight of religion weighs heavily in film productions here. “, says Brandon, a film student at the New York Film Academy. Look at the big Hollywood productions: they are heavily financed by investors and producers who are linked to conservative religious groups, and this limits the treatment of certain subjects, which are left to small independent productions, but which are rarely seen in cinemas in the United States.” he emphasizes.
Film projects dealing with sexual relations, with explicit scenes and a great deal of nudity, are therefore very, very often thrown into oblivion, at best, limited to rare experimental or independent screenings, and therefore very isolated in the American cinematographic panorama.
For Amanda, a fan of French cinema, who has seen all of Breillat’s films, ” The public that comes to see his films wants to see how sex is treated, because apart from porn, here, the creations of films linked to sex remain very very limited here and we see nothing: no breasts, no buttocks, no love and sex scenes. “, she explains, ” There is this unknown side for us, and a certain attraction to sexual freedom and the way in which the subject is common in French society, accepted by the majority, whereas here, it is something marginal. Breillat’s “sans taboo” is the ultimate freedom, the freedom to talk about subjects and to make films where sex is treated freely, and I think that we envy France for that a lot, because sex is a central element of life, of love “.
Catherine Breillat in a few dates
Catherine Breillat was born on July 13, 1948, in Bressuire, in Deux-Sèvres. She began her career in cinema by directing. She then devoted herself to writing screenplays for other directors such as Federico Fellini for And the ship sails (1983) or Maurice Pialat for Police (1985). Returning to directing in 1987 with 36 girls, She found success with the public in 1996 with Perfect love ! And Romance in 1999. She wrote from a very young age and published her first novel at the age of 17, The easy manprohibited to those under 18. In 2005, a brain hemorrhage left her partially paralyzed. After five months of rehabilitation, she returned to the studios and directed An old mistress based on Barbey d’Aurevilly, a film selected in 2007 at the Cannes Film Festival. For the Arte channel, she adapts two tales by Charles Perrault, Blue Beard in 2009 and The Sleeping Beauty in 2010. Victim of a breach of trust, she published a book in 2009, Breach of trustdedicated to this case and shot a film of the same title in 2012, which was released in 2014.
RFI (source: Radio France documentation)