★★★
This is a thoroughly enjoyable series of TV interviews with Jean Painlevé shortly before his death. Rather than having two people sitting in chairs talking, Hazera shows only Painlevé speaking while the film cuts to relevant photos and parts of his films. There's even some variation in the settings for the interviews, from a house, perhaps Painlevé's, to the research station at Roscoff.
The first half of the series is full of history, and I enjoyed hearing about Painlevé and his occasional interactions with contemporaries in the French art scene. Seeing how moved he was in talking about Jean Vigo, I also understood how close the two had been. He doesn’t speak nostalgically about his youth, either; he has more of a historical approach. When the second half of the series moves to the post-War period, I especially picked up how dedicated Painlevé was to science. His comments about the Research Film reinforced and clarified his writing on the subject.
There is also some of his personality and values in the film. He describes at length his conflict about controling animals in his films, citing the octopus specifically, and he sometimes brings such a wry wit that you can miss his joke if you're not paying attention. He could clearly be a prickly guy to handle, too, as demonstrated by the way he wouldn't forgive the man who put the wrong sticker on a fim can, which resulted in the film being ruined. And for all this, I found it odd he didn't talk more about Geneviève Hamon.
Still, Painlevé through his Films is far more interesting than I’d expected it to be. It’s a good way for Lou and I to end our series with a review of the films and some extra information about the works we’ve watched. And over two hours conversation with the director behind the films. What a great, eye-opener of a film experience this whole series has been.
