Camera Stylo Proof 2 Tasha Dibiagio March 27
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MARRIED WITH FICTION: BRAULT & GROULX’S POLITICAL EVOLUTION OF LE DIRECT MADISON BROWN At the onset of John Grierson’s goal to create a Cana- — dian national cinema solely through the documentary Pour la suite du monde (1963) mode he stipulated three roles films must aspire to: Entre le mer et l’eau douce (1964) Le chat dans le sac (1964) either to edify, clarify, or educate (Froger 53). In effect, such films were aiding federation, developing less of a national identity than a hegemonic ideal. In contrast to Grierson, Francois Jost contends that all audio-visual documents have the inherent intention either to survey, inform, or make a work of art (Froger 133). Though these intentions overlap, Grierson and the NFB disregarded the creative aspect that Jost highlights. Michel Brault and Gilles Groulx, Québécois filmmakers at the forefront of le direct, preserved the stylistic and narrative elements of documentary while making their forays into fiction. Brault employed documentary tactics in his fictional works to create a more intimate and accessible films. Conversely, Groulx integrated fiction into the documen- tary form to express through his characters the mes- sages and ideas he wanted to convey. Highly identifiable markers emerged from their use of distinctly Québécois archetypes and familiar political circumstances. Giving way to an inherent specularity between films (which rely on viewers to have their values reflected) and viewers (who rely on films to form a national identity), Brault and Groulx blazed the trail for political comment at the nexus of Quebec’s identity crisis and the Québécois need for direct works of art. 1 Understanding the political and historical cir- cumstances of cinema direct (le direct) is necessary for Madison Brown is an undergraduate student in unpacking its evolutionary implications. Struggling to her fourth year at The Cinema Studies Insttute, University of Toronto. MADISON BROWN 13 determine an identity, especially in relation to Canada, Quebec has contested numer- in Montreal. Instead, Le chat dans le sac is a fictional film, taking the form of a doc- ous attempts at its homogenization. Though subordination has undoubtedly proven umentary, but ultimately critiquing the very search and struggle of identifying in a discouraging, Bill Marshall maintains that any national struggle “must be predicated rapidly modernizing Quebec. Brault’s film, on the other hand, was denied by the NFB on provisional and not full or unified notions of identity” (34). The jigsaw effect of because the characters’ portrayals were too “sordid” (Loiselle 89). Consequently, Brault this imperative sheds light on the ideological compromise between the NFB and its produced his film in the private sector with the help of fellow Québécois artists. filmmakers. After the Great Darkness, numerous social institutions became federal- Le chat dans le sac prioritizes le direct, with elements of fiction tying the narrative ized. This progress was beneficial for Quebec, and modernization resonated with its together. The loose backdrop of Claude and Barbara living out the end of their rela- Anglo-Canadian counterparts. However, many Quebeckers saw the rapid change as tionship is upstaged by the interview sequences, improvisation, and handheld cam- an attempt to have Quebec conform (Loiselle 68). This threat was not a strictly social era work that are signature of le direct. The emotional affect that the characters elicit or economic force. With the NFB’s Candid Eye series, for example, Anglo-Canadians is reactionary—to each other, to the political climate, and to each individually —as proffered a fictional cinema that took the form of a documentary (Burnett 30), employ- opposed to a narrative action that drives the plot forward. The plot is chronological ing young Québécois filmmakers-to-be as technicians. With the federal government nonetheless, if marked by an episodic structure. Intermittent sequences of Claude profiting from these films as pseudo-propaganda, an interesting parallel can be drawn and Barbara in bed together accentuate the film’s episodic nature. These sequences to the Duplessis era and the proselytizing Catholic films of Albert Tesier and Maurice are notably more abstract than the rest of the film, employing chiaroscuro and close- Proulx. Instead of being screened in parish halls and schools, however, these docu- ups that obscure the intimacy, but concede their mutual passion. In contrast to the mentaries were entering citizens’ homes through the intimate medium of television. predominant documentary style exercised throughout, the cinematography of Le chat Out of distaste and a fear of political circumvention, Gilles Groulx and many of his is more characteristic of fiction than le direct, and the sporadic use of these sequences Québécois contemporaries began making documentaries under the guise of fiction accentuates the calculated artifice of the film. (Burnett 30). Direct cinema had inherent fictional aspects, as demonstrated in Pour Entre le mer et l’eau douce emphasizes fiction, using distinguished effects from la suite du monde (1963) by Michel Brault, Marcel Carrière and Pierre Perrault, where le direct to create a more realistic effect. The camera is not addressed directly, though the guiding of subjects sculpted observational and ethnographic documentary tac- self-reflexivity is very much present. In a sequence where Claude is getting ready for a tics. Staging certain quotidian elements offered the directors an opportunity for the date, a door shuts between him and the camera each time he changes his outfit. Repre- camera’s perusal without directing the subjects in an unnatural way. The result in senting the inside/outside binary, it is evident that the camera is not invited to omni- Pour la suite du monde is seamless; the participation of the filmmakers, coupled with science. In fact, the camera’s utter otherness is elucidated in an interview sequence the coercion of activity, generated a sense of immediacy and truth, without feeling with Claude and his brother in the street. Evoking the perspective of looking through contrived. Brault attributed this effect to his desire to record the “dialectical relations a viewfinder, the use of a mask suggests that the viewer is actually behind the camera. between the performed and the lived” (Loiselle 93). No longer did Brault and his coun- This interactive exploit allows the viewer a sense of participation, while reinforcing terparts need to choose between the “utilitarian concept of art”, which would fit into the camera lens as the very barrier to ‘direct’ intimacy. Grierson’s agenda, and the aesthetic approach that “affirms the absence of an artistic Brault and Groulx’s two modes of conflation between le direct and fiction are over- gesture’s finality” (Froger 51). The difference between the “art of documentary” and lapping, but their departures from one another offer a fertile ground for discussing “documentary art” had been delineated, and the latter’s triumph propelled Québécois their individual impetuses and outcomes. The need for spontaneity stemmed from a filmmakers toward more politically personal production. growing chagrin with the modernization and simultaneous federalization of Quebec. Both produced in 1964, Gilles Groulx’s Le chat dans le sac and Michel Brault’s Entre In the midst of the Quiet Revolution, political comments were either “too quiet or too le mer et l’eau douce made significant statements to the NFB regarding censorship, revolutionary” (Loiselle 72). In regards to the production of film, fiction best typifies and the Board’s refusal to allow creative (and political) vision. Groulx was approached the quiet, whereas documentary typifies the revolutionary. Since these characteristics to make a film that would appear as a part of a documentary series depicting winter are not entirely independent of one another, their synthesis creates a potent discourse. 14 CAMÉRA STYLO MADISON BROWN 15 In response to growing political unease and the dominion of the NFB, Brault and ticular subtext. Groulx made their political statements by cinematically capturing everyday people Cinema, combining multiple mediums for its purpose and end, provides an end- and events in a way that evoked their own circumstance (Burnett 31). By giving their less number of possibilities for articulation; as Froger poignantly notes, “the subject actors free reign within character restraints and very loose plots, Brault and Groulx itself determines its form of expression” (52). Quebec has a multifaceted and colourful had them relay the discontent and political irritation the directors themselves were cultural array, so it is no wonder that films bridging le direct and fiction relied on not permitted to express within the NFB. Bill Marshall posits that hegemony, like that collectivity. Each artistic medium adding to an apogee of meaning, with members of of the NFB’s dominant discourse, does not succeed in its regimentation by forcefully the cast and crews including well-known musicians—such as Claude Gauthier, theatre imposing its ideology, but rather by “complex processes of negotiation and consent” actors, television stars, and others (Loiselle 100). The potency of these versatile stars (49). At the whims of the NFB’s authority, Brault and Groulx were left in a compro- coming together to speak their dissatisfaction was twofold: it legitimized the issue mising position. In order to “negotiate consent”, they were required to use distinctly for the elite, while effectively reaching the masses. Through similar means and—ulti- Quebecois archetypes to represent their larger ambition, to critique the present state mately—with the same goal, Brault’s Entre le mer resonated with the critique of Que- of affairs in defining a national identity. In favour of Quebec’s independence, Froger bec’s modernization, while Groulx’s Le chat commented on federalization and the lack proposes that the directors played “cache-cache” (132), hiding their political ideas in of Québécois independence. While these national issues are not completely autono- the characters’ dialogue. Illustrating Froger’s point, Groulx recruits narrative and dia- mous, they are also not entirely combinable.