Discutez le traitement de l'histoire dans l'« Eloge de l’Amour » de Godart

Résumé du document

Jean-Louis Godart famously stated once that “a film should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in this order”. It has never been so true than in his movie “Eloge de l'Amour,” which translates to “In Praise of Love,” which came out in 2001. Special in many ways, this film is especially remarkable for the way that Godart emphasized its relation to his idea of History. Indeed, it comes right after a decade-long break in his usual film-making routine when he concentrated his efforts to shoot what may be the most relevant work of his career: “Histoire(s) du cinéma.” Melding his interests of the history of cinema and contemporary history, it shows how much the overall idea of History has shifted to the core of his work.

Extraits

[...] It brings a dimension of past that underlines most of the historical topics mentioned: Mr. Rosenthal's search, Edgar's thesis, or the meeting in the library about the Sarajevo War. Paradoxically, the second part with saturated colours is situated in the past. But soon it becomes clear that these colours, besides being too bright, are also inaccurate: the beach is blue and the sea is red. This visual distortion of reality reminds the audience of the idea of memory, which becomes more and more blurred as time goes by. [...]

[...] As long as it is still happening in the present, a person's history cannot be part of History. So, “Eloge de l'Amour” wants to find out how history can be transformed or included in History, and specifically understand how it is possible to get to History. History does not come naturally; you have to look more in depth, to do research to find what was in the true History. In “Eloge de l'Amour,” it can be said that Edgar is actually a detective, always playing a part in a research process.[7] He is searching through facts and memories to reconstruct a History he has not lived; this is why he goes to question Jean Lacouture and complete his thesis about Catholics in the Resistance. [...]

[...] This thesis is summed up by one of the film's sentences that evokes Rossellini's idea that choses sont là, pourquoi les inventer?”[4] Memories can fade and die, but commemorative objects keep them safe, because everyone needs memories to reflect on and grow as a person. That is what the story of the Bayard couple and the American Hollywood producers is all about. In the film, the woman says, Je note simplement que c'est un pays dont les habitants n'ont pas de nom. Américain, ça ne veut rien dire : les Mexicains ou les Brésiliens sont aussi des Américains. [ ]Et mon hypothèse, c'est qu'il n'est effectivement pas étonnant qu'un pays dont les habitants n'ont pas de nom ait besoin des histoires des autres. [...]

[...] However, his character is still an observer of History, his passive role all the more obvious when he is writing his thesis about Resistance. The film progressively shows that real History is not that obvious. The difficulty first is for define it: what really is History? The most logical answer would be that you find it in historical objects or places, real things that can be studied and commemorated. Even for people who have lived this History, objects can sometimes be more trustworthy than memory. That is why Mr. [...]

[...] Since Godart is returning to filming fiction after a documentary period, the main issue is to mix a character's imaginary history with Godart's concern of History and to figure out which process can gather them In more depth, it becomes quite obvious that History is not only the main subject of this work but also an essential support to how Godart creates the work itself (II). Basically, every movie has a history, more or less basic; in “Eloge de l'Amour,” the main character, Edgar has a project. Initially, it is supposed to be a film project to state the four stages of love at three different ages: according to Edgar, Ça raconte quelque chose de l'histoire des trois âges : il y a des jeunes, des adultes et des vieux. [...]