Journal de France - DaaVeeDee

Journal de France (DVD) (*)

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Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
French ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
97 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (2.35:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 2012 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )

Directed By:
Raymond Depardon
Claudine Nougaret

Written By:
Raymond Depardon
Claudine Nougaret

Actors:
Raymond Depardon ..... Himself
Claudine Nougaret ..... Herself
Henry Chapier ..... Himself (archive footage)
Jacques Chirac ..... Himself (archive footage)
Mireille Darc ..... Herself (archive footage)
Alain Delon ..... Himself (archive footage)
Françoise Etchegaray ..... Herself (archive footage)
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing ..... Himself (archive footage)
Jean-Luc Godard ..... Himself (archive footage)
Sophie Maintigneux ..... Herself (archive footage)
Nelson Mandela ..... Himself (archive footage)
Mireille Mathieu ..... Herself (archive footage)
Yves Mourousi ..... Himself (archive footage)
Maurice Papon ..... Himself (archive footage)
Françoise Prenant ..... Herself (archive footage)
Marie Rivière ..... Herself (archive footage)
Eric Rohmer ..... Himself (archive footage)
Rosette ..... Herself (archive footage)
Jean Rouch ..... Himself (archive footage)

Synopsis:

Part travel diary, part retrospective, Journal de France trails acclaimed documentarian Raymond Depardon on his six-year journey around the French countryside photographing the landscape with a large format plate camera. Interspersed with images of a disappearing France are documentary clips and never-before-seen footage from Depardon's incredible 40-year reporting career, in which he covered civil wars in combat zones around the world as well as political subjects closer to home. This long, solitary road trip provided fertile ground for the creation - with his long-time partner and collaborator Claudine Nougaret - of an extraordinary travel journal.

Journal de France is an engrossing and valuable personal record of the work of photographer and film-maker Raymond Depardon, depicting his autumnal journey across France, taking pictures of buildings and street scenes that he believes are in danger of dying out. Looking out of the windscreen at the wheel of his camper van, or poised behind the viewfinder, patiently waiting for people to go past so that he can take the shot, he is a mild and grandfatherly figure; the barber whose shop he photographs trims his eyebrows as well as cutting his hair. He has a faint look of Michel Piccoli. The filmed record of his excursion is interspersed with clips of "memories and outtakes" from a whole career of cine-reportage from the 1960s onwards, with a candid insider account of Giscard d'Estaing's political behaviour in an era when journalists were allowed more proximity but expected to be respectful and discreet. Depardon infuriated the political establishment by refusing to play the game. The film brings in images not only from France but also Venezuela, Chad, Central African Republic and Italy. Archives old and new are in the process of being created and rediscovered. To paraphrase Jean Vigo, the film is à propos de France, or à propos du monde. The most gripping image is a "silent" portrait of Nelson Mandela, who gives Depardon a formidably, mesmerically serious pose, held for one minute, which then breaks into a broad smile.

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 05 May, 2014.

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