March 22, 2011 (XXII:9) : /CLEAN SLATE (1981, 128 min)

Directed by Bertrand Tavernier Written by , Bertrand Tavernier Based on the novel Pop. 1280 by Produced by Henri Lassa, Adolphe Viezzi Cinematography by Pierre-William Glenn Edited by Armand Psenny

Philippe Noiret...Lucien Cordier ...Rose Mercaillou Jean-Pierre Marielle...Le Peron et son frère L'adjudant Georges Le Peron Stéphane Audran...Huguette Cordier Eddy Mitchell... Nono - l'amant demeuré d'Huguette ...Marcel Chavasson Irène Skobline...Anne - la nouvelle institutrice Michel Beaune...Vanderbrouck - un nouveau riche arrogant

BERTRAND TAVERNIER (April 25, 1941, Lyon, Rhône, France) directed 35 films and wrote the screenplays for most of them. Lonely Death of Edgar Allan Poe, 2003 Hanging Offense, 2002 Some of his films are 2010 The Princess of Montpensier, 2009 In September 11 (segment "France"), 2002 And Now... Ladies and the Electric Mist, 2004 , 2002 , 2001 Gentlemen..., 1999 Fait d'hiver, 1998 Hasards ou coincidences, Histoires de vies brisées: les 'double peine' de Lyon, 1997 “The 1993 “Amour fou,” 1993 A Captive in the Land, 1992 On Guard, Other Side of the Tracks,” 1995 The Bait, 1992 La guerre sans 1989 A Dry White Season, 1989 Samuel Fuller's Street of No nom, 1989 , 1987 Beatrice, 1986 'Round Return, 1984 Night Patrol, 1983 Mississippi Blues, 1983 Cover Midnight, 1984 , 1983 Mississippi Blues, Up, 1982 Le choc, 1982 L'étoile du Nord, 1981 Coup de 1983 La 8ème generation, 1983 Ciné citron, 1982 “Philippe Torchon, 1981 Choice of Arms, 1980 Loulou, 1980 Une semaine Soupault,” 1981 Coup de Torchon, 1980 Une semaine de de vacances, 1980 , 1979 A Little Romance, 1979 vacances, 1980 Death Watch, 1977 Spoiled Children, 1976 The Série noire, 1977 La menace, 1977 Group Portrait with a Lady, Judge and the Assassin, and 1975 Let Joy Reign Supreme. 1976 Small Change, 1976 The Judge and the Assassin, 1975 Le cheval de fer, 1974 La jeune fille assassinée, 1974 The JIM THOMPSON (September 27, 1906, Anadarko, Oklahoma, Clockmaker of St. Paul, 1973 Day for Night, 1972 State of Siege, USA – April 7, 1977, Hollywood, California) was an American 1972 Cousin Jules, 1971 One Way Ticket, 1970 Comrades, 1969 novelist, many of whose works were translated to film, among Paulina is Leaving, and 1969 La question ordinaire. them 2010 The Killer Inside Me, 1996 Hit Me (novel A Swell- Looking Babe), 1993 , 1993 Fallen Angels (story ARMAND PSENNY has 45 editing credits, some of which are 1992 “The Frightening Frammis”), 1990 , 1990 After Diên Biên Phú, 1989 Life and Nothing But, 1987 Beatrice, 1986 Dark, My Sweet, 1989 The Kill-Off, 1981 Coup de Torchon 'Round Midnight, 1984 A Sunday in the Country, 1981 Coup de (novel Pop. 1280), 1979 Série noire (novel ), Torchon, 1981 Un assassin qui passé, 1980 Une semaine de 1976 The Killer Inside Me, and 1972 The Getaway. Thompson vacances, 1980 Death Watch, 1976 Run After Me Until I Catch also worked on two screenplays for Stanley Kubrick: 1957 and You, 1976 The Judge and the Assassin, 1974 of 1956 . St. Paul, 1971 Judge Roy Bean, 1969 The House in the Country, 1962 The Girls of La Rochelle, 1962 Dark Journey, 1959 The PIERRE-WILLIAM GLENN (October 31, 1943, , France) has Chasers, and 1958 Why Women Sin. 73 cinematography credits, among them 2010 The Sad and Tavernier—COUP DE TORCHON—2

PHILIPPE NOIRET...Lucien Cordier (October 1, 1930, Lille, them 2008 The Girl from Monaco, 2002 My Wife's Name Is Nord, France – November 23, 2006, Paris, France) appeared in Maurice, 2001 J'ai faim!!!, 1999 Belle maman, 1996 Maximum 152 films, including 2007 3 amis, 2005 Edy, 1997 Soleil, 1996 Risk, 1992 The Turn of the Screw, 1988 The Spider Labyrinth, Les grands ducs, 1994 Il Postino: The Postman, 1993 Tango, 1988 Les saisons du plaisir, 1987 Babette's Feast, 1986 Follow 1992 Nous deux, 1989 Life and Nothing But, 1988 Cinema My Gaze, 1985 La Cage aux Folles 3: The Wedding, 1984 The Paradiso, 1987 Masques, 1987 The Family, 1986 'Round Blood of Others, 1984 Les voleurs de la nuit, 1982 Le choc, 1981 Midnight, 1985 L'été prochain, 1984 Souvenirs souvenirs, 1983 “Brideshead Revisited,” 1981 Coup de Torchon, 1981 Les L'africain, 1982 L'étoile du Nord, 1981 Coup de Torchon, 1981 Plouffe, 1980 La cage aux folles II, 1980 The Big Red One, 1979 Birgit Haas Must Be Killed, 1980 Pile ou face, 1980 Une Le gagnant, 1978 , 1977 Des Teufels Advokat, semaine de vacances, 1978 Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of 1975 The Black Bird, 1974 How to Make Good When One Is a Europe?, 1976 Une femme à sa Jerk and a Crybaby, 1972 The fenêtre, 1976 The Judge and the Discreet Charm of the Assassin, 1974 The Secret, 1974 Bourgeoisie, 1970 The Lady in The Clockmaker of St. Paul, the Car with Glasses and a 1973 The Grande Bouffe, 1972 Gun, 1970 , 1969 The Assassination, 1971 The Unfaithful Wife, 1963 Murphy's War, 1969 Topaz, Bluebeard, 1961 Saint Tropez 1969/I Justine, 1969 The Blues, 1960 The Good Time Assassination Bureau, 1967 The Girls, 1959 The Cousins, 1958 Night of the Generals, 1965 Les Secrets of a French Nurse, and copains, 1962 Therese, 1961 1957 Le jeu de la nuit. Rendezvous, and 1949 Gigi. EDDY MITCHELL...Nono - ISABELLE HUPPERT...Rose l'amant demeuré d'Huguette Mercaillou (March 16, 1953, Paris, France) has appeared in 100 (July 3, 1942, Paris, France) has 33 acting credits, some of which films and television series, some of which are 2010 Special are 2009 Bambou, 2007 Big City, 2003 Lovely Rita, sainte Treatment, 2010 “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” 2009 patronne des cas désespérés, 1998 Cuisine américaine, 1995 White Material, 2008 The Sea Wall, 2007 Hidden Love, 2006 Happiness Is in the Field, 1991 Until the End of the World, 1986 Private Property, 2006 L'ivresse du pouvoir, 2004 I Heart 'Round Midnight, 1984 Frankenstein 90, 1984 Night Patrol, Huckabees, 2002 Two, 2001 The Piano Teacher, 2000 Merci 1983 My Other Husband, 1981 Coup de Torchon, and 1980 Rat Pour le Chocolat, 2000 La fausse suivante, 2000 La vie moderne, Race. 1999 Keep It Quiet, 1998 The School of Flesh, 1996 Elective Affinities, 1992 Après l'amour, 1991 Madame Bovary, 1988 Les GUY MARCHAND...Marcel Chavasson (May 22, 1937, Paris, possédés, 1983 My Best Friend's Girl, 1983 Entre Nous, 1982 France) appeared in 93 films and TV series, among them 2010 Godard's Passion, 1981 Eaux profondes, 1981 Coup de Torchon, Family Tree, 2008 Off and Running, 2007 Après lui, 1991-2003 1981 The Wings of the Dove, 1981 Lady of the Camelias, 1980 “Nestor Burma,” 2002 My Wife's Name Is Maurice, 2002 “The Heaven's Gate, 1980 Every Man for Himself , 1980 Loulou, 1978 Red Summer,” 2001 La boîte, 1996 The Best Job in the World, Violette, 1977 Spoiled Children, 1976 I Am Pierre Riviere, 1976 1996 Beaumarchais the Scoundrel, 1989 Coupe-franche, 1987 The Judge and the Assassin, 1974 Going Places, 1972 César and Grand Guignol, 1983 Entre Nous, 1982 Nestor Burma, détective Rosalie, and 1971 “Le prussien.” de choc, 1981 Coup de Torchon, 1981 Heat of Desire, 1980 Loulou, 1980 The Big Red One, 1978 Dear Inspector, 1976 The JEAN-PIERRE MARIELLE...Le Peron et son frère L'adjudant Big Operator, 1975 Cousin cousine, 1972 Une belle fille comme Georges Le Peron moi, and 1971 Rum Runners. (April 12, 1932, Dijon, France) has 116 acting credits, some of which are 2010 “La peau de chagrin,” 2010 Pièce montée, 2008 MICHEL BEAUNE...Vanderbrouck - un nouveau riche “Bring Us Grynszpan,” 2006 Le grand Meaulnes, 2006 The Da arrogant (December 13, 1933, Paris, France – July 24, 1990, Vinci Code, 2004 Tomorrow We Move, 1996 The Pupil, 1991 Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France) appeared in 110 films and TV Tous les matins du monde, 1987 The Two Crocodiles, 1986 series, including 1990 Feu sur le candidat, 1970-1990 “Les Ménage, 1985 Hold-Up, 1982 Jamais avant le marriage, 1982 enquêtes du commissaire Maigret,” 1988 , 1987 L'indiscrétion, 1981 Coup de Torchon, 1981 Asphalt, 1977 In a The Loner, 1985 Le cowboy, 1983 “Médecins de nuit,” 1983 Wild Moment, 1976 Run After Me Until I Catch You, 1976 “Liberté-liberté,” 1983 Tout le monde peut se tromper, 1981 Femmes fatales, 1975 The Common Man, 1974 How to Make Coup de Torchon, 1981 The Professional, 1981 Birgit Haas Must Good When One Is a Jerk and a Crybaby, 1972 Le Sex Shop, Be Killed, 1970-1979 “Au théâtre ce soir,” 1979 Cop or Hood, 1970 Give Her the Moon, 1969 Les femmes, 1964 Weekend at 1978 Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, 1977 La question, 1975 The Dunkirk, 1964 Male Companion, 1963 Sweet and Sour, 1963 French Detective, 1975 “L'ingénu,” 1974 Stavisky..., 1972 The Banana Peel, 1960 Le mouton, 1960 Pete the Tender, 1957 Too Assassination, 1972 “François Gaillard,” 1970 The Time to Die, Many Lovers, and 1957 Le grand bluff. 1965 “Sens interdit,” 1965 “Sancho Panza dans son île,” 1964 Backfire, 1961 “Ôtez votre fille s'il vous plait,” 1961 Wise Guys, STÉPHANE AUDRAN...Huguette Cordier (November 8, 1932, and1960 “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Versailles, Seine-et-Oise, France) appeared in 108 titles, among Tavernier—COUP DE TORCHON—3

sounds, music, movement and time we can be sure of one thing: it is true cinema….

Bertrand Tavernier was born in Lyon on 25 April 1941, the son of Ginette and René. René was a writer and poet, and notably the founder of the literary magazine Confluences, named after the two great rivers whose merging influenced the design of Lyon’s landscape: the Rhône and the Saône….In Lyon: Le Regard Intérieur, Bertrand identifies his first memory of the city as that of being taken onto the terrace of the house in Monchat to watch luminous explosions in the sky on one evening in August 1944. The flashes of light were shell bombardments by the American troops who had at last entered the city in the final stage of its liberation from the occupation. Tavernier draws a connection between the emotional drama of the event and his own idea of cinema: ‘Everyone around me was laughing, clapping. Since then, I’ve never been able to separate this notion of light from all these emotions, from all that tumult, from all that life that seemed to be just beginning again.’ This sensitivity to the concept of light as something characterised above all by a persistent ability to reform and From Bertrand Tavernier The Film-Maker of Lyon. Stephen renew itself out of all kinds of human darkness is the vision Hay. I.B. Tauris Publishers. London, NY, 2000. which seems to lie behind all of Tavernier’s work, most explicit I was immensely struck by films that were in such in the persuasive optimism of La Vie et Rien d’Autre, but also contrast with each other. In terms of atmosphere, visual tone, and lying behind the small rays of light that offer some hint of hope construction, I almost found it hard to accept that they were within the fear and pessimism of Death Watch and Coup de directed by the same person. Yet, they were clearly connected: a Torchon. His inclusion of a reference to cinema within this powerful feeling of reflection; an essentially cinematic dialogue description of his earliest memory is predictable in a man who between the past and the present, and one in which the past could would always choose to talk about cinema rather than himself, suddenly intrude, without announcement; a striking absence of describing his inevitable tendency to lapse into a series of any systematic approach to mise-en scène in which the camera historical cinematic anecdotes as being his own defense against a would disengage completely from simple framing action; camera shy nature. Jean Cosmos has referred to Tavernier’s ‘elephant movements that did not follow characters so much as connect memory’, and his ability to recall the details of films, their people to each other, and to places; always a hidden side to the makers and their making is certainly remarkable, staggering characters, intrinsic ambiguity maybe most of all, loneliness as even. His sheer energy for talking about this art-form which an inescapable aspect of the human condition, a feeling from seems to be the very stuff he breathes inevitably makes one think which there can be respite but never escape, as the characters try of other high-profile cinéphiles such as François Truffaut and, to work out how their past is shaping their present, sometimes perhaps most of all, Tavernier’s American friend and occasional trying to work out if things could have been different; many colleague Martin Scorsese, with whom he shares the formative questions, fewer answers. I was sure of little, other than the influence of a Catholic background, common admiration for certainty that Tavernier’s films reflected the feelings of someone personal favorites like John Ford and Michael Powell, and the with a profound curiosity about humanity, and the meaning of all same voracious appetite and memory for the cinema, old and the uncertainty and fragility of people’s choices and lives…. new, the classic and the overlooked, and including films from From the outset, I wanted to write a book on Tavernier cultures all over the globe. that was centered on cinematic expression, but also about the Tavernier’s passion for cinema really began when he film-making itself. For me, it seemed the right way in, to was around twelve. By the time he was fourteen, he had decided discover more about the work of a man whose entire life is he wanted to be a film director, and remembers sticking photos saturated in his love of films, film-makers and film- from films in a scrapbook, along with the names of those whose making….What I have tried to do is provide some insight into films he admired, the first three who merited this recognition the relationship between Tavernier’s films, his practical approach being John Ford, Henry Hathaway and William Wellman. … to directing and his philosophical attitude to film-making….One Tavernier’s study of the law, for which he had enrolled of my aims has been to draw together the intriguing connections at the Sorbonne [was mostly spent in cinemas] and going on to that run through Tavernier’s deceptively eclectic body of work, spend all of his study time at a number of small ‘arthouse’ thematically and stylistically.… cinemas which widened his experience, taking in directors such Tavernier’s cinema, like any other, is open to analysis as Fritz Lang, Jean-Pierre Melville, Kenji Mizoguchi and Jean from a variety of angles. The fruits of his prolific career as a Renoir. For the end-of-year law exam, he handed in a blank politically committed film director continue to be met with scorn paper. as well as admiration. However, no matter how his work is At this time, Tavernier’s commitment to cinema was defined or judged, when experiencing his emotional orchestration propelled further by two important ventures. First, along with of places, people and feelings into rich layers of images, voices, some friends from the Sorbonne…he founded L’Étrave (The Tavernier—COUP DE TORCHON—4

Stem), a cinema journal of articles and interviews. It was an associate independent press agent, working to promote the films interview for L’Étrave that brought him into contact with Jean- of directors who included Robert Altman, Herbert Biberman, Pierre Melville, following the release of Deux Hommes Dans , John Ford, John Frankenheimer, Samuel Fuller, Manhattan (1959). Melville and Tavernier became friends, with Howard Hawks, John Huston, Elia Kazan, Fritz Lang, Ida Melville giving Tavernier a job as trainee assistant director on Lupino, Leo McCarey, Jacques Ruffio, , Jerry Léon Morin, Prêtre (1961), Tavernier describing himself as ‘a Schatzberg and Raoul Walsh. They also worked to champion the very bad assistant’. He went to work as press assistant on the cause of blacklisted directors such as Joseph Losey and Abraham film, and then on Le Doulos (1961), learning the craft of the film Polonsky, and promote the films of directors whose work was publicist which would keep him occupied throughout the 1960s, neglected or had fallen from favour. Jean-Pierre Melville had alongside regular work as a film critic and a life increasingly introduced Tavernier to Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960) on taken up with the discovery and advocacy of world cinema. its first release in Paris, and in 1968 Tavernier managed to get Second was his founding of his own ciné club Le Nickel the film re-released, persuading Powell to come to Paris for the Odéon—started with the poet Yves Martin and Bernard film’s opening. Powell’s career was still in ruins as a result of the Maritnand—dedicated mainly to seeing American films concerted vilification of him in Britain that had followed the impossible to see elsewhere. The founders of Le Nickel Odéon film’s release, and this screening and invitation, coming during adopted King Vidor and Delmer Daves as their Honorary the darkest period of his artistic career, started the process of his Chairmen…. critical rehabilitation and rediscovery around the world. The meeting marked the beginning of a friendship which lasted until Powell’s death in 1990. Tavernier’s dedication to Powell’s cause as an artist is very revealing in that it clarifies his basic dispute with certain narrow ‘doctrines’ of the New Wave, disagreements which have been partly responsible for an exaggerated idea of his supposed opposition to their principles: [Tavernier wrote] [Powell], who had been a very important director between 1940 and 1950, was either forgotten or held up for vilification; forgotten in France, or rather totally misunderstood, principal victim of the excesses of the politics of the auteur. In order to better defend Hitchcock, François Truffaut denied all talent in other British film-makers…In England it was worse. Powell had been scored off the card, put on a blacklist since Peeping Tom, such was the violence and injury of its Melville recommended Tavernier to Georges de critical reception. It shattered his career… Within Beauregard, with whom Tavernier worked as press agent British cinema, Powell has a place apart. On the between 1961 and 1964, a period when de Beauregard produced margins, within a system, he refused to follow fashion, many films of the New Wave, allowing Tavernier to work on the did not follow any school…The films he made between publicity for projects such as Adieu Philippine (Jacques Rozier, 1937 and 1951 are testimony to a staggering originality 1963), Les Carabiniers (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963), Cleo de 5 à 7 and freedom of tone. Profoundly rooted in a national (Agnès Varda, 1961), Le Mépris (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963), culture, they refuse all spirit of insularity, serving as L’Oeuil du Malin (Claude Chabrol, 1962), (Jean- proof of an openness of spirit, a curiosity and almost Luc Godard, 1965), La 317e Section (Pierre Schoendorffer, unique breadth of vision… His intentions go beyond 1964). It was during this time that Tavernier was able to soak up everyday naturalism, and lead to an irrational, all the practical and economic aspects of film production, metaphysical intensity which bears innumerable visions. interviewing directors, producers and editors, and talking to You don’t follow a plot, you dive into a universe… various technicians. Then Georges de Beauregard gave him his first chance at directing, allowing him to direct two short At the same time, Tavernier continued to write articles and film thrillers, Le Baiser de Judas (1963) and Une Chance Explosive reviews for a variety of publications, including Cinéma, Combat, (1964), which de Beauregard produced. Both films received Les Lettres Françaises and the two huge rivals of film criticism, some favourable reviews but Tavernier disliked them intensely, Les Cahiers du Cinéma and Positif, his first review for the latter mainly for what he regarded as their immature emulation of being of Joseph Losey’s Time Without Pity (1956). He took some American cinema. He was immediately offered the possibility of delight in being able to defend the work of Delmer Daves in directing a full-length feature, but decided against the idea of Positif, then go on to defend the films of Samuel Fuller in going through another kind of exercise in style determined by an Cahiers du Cinéma. Tavernier consciously sought to write about imposed subject. Instead he decided to continue his period of films across various publications, avoiding the risk of always learning more about film-making, discovering what kind of seeking to fit the mould of a particular viewpoint, but cinema he really wanted to make, and finding a subject that acknowledges that he did feel somewhat closer to Positif than to concerned him personally before trying to direct something more Cahiers du Cinéma, which he regarded as not being political ambitious. enough. All the time, Tavernier kept in mind his ambition to go Following his ‘apprenticeship’ with de on to direct ‘properly’, with various encounters taking him closer Beauregard, Tavernier teamed up with Pierre Rissient and an to his goal with the opportunity for practical work in film…. Tavernier—COUP DE TORCHON—5

categorization of artists: ‘…I reject all labels and categories. To Whilst acknowledging the fact that political feeling is lump so many directors as the tradition de la qualité or the essential to Tavernier’s work, it is obvious that concerns over the nouvelle vague and now la nouvelle qualité française is the best dramatic disturbance caused by his polemical views focus on a way to ignore the individuality of each film-maker. I’d say that direct and sometimes detached form of expression which now the definition of tradition de la qualité applies when academism and then add an uneasy preaching tone to his earlier films. The stands in the way of expressing emotions…in the attempt to applause for Tavernier’s ‘maturation’ seems prompted by his reinvent la nouvelle qualité française, I was lumped together switch to more perceptive and with Claude Miller, Alain Corneau complex political examination, and and a dozen others. We’re not at all one formal development in alike.’ Tavernier’s work does aptly reflect the essential difference between the Coup de Torchon (1981) singular political feeling of his Interviewer: Do you think early films and the more open of yourself in any sense as a political exploration of the later religious film-maker? ones: the increased complexity and Bertrand Tavernier: I mobility of his mise-en-scène…. think…I think that I believe in God. The political content of Tavernier’s dramas is shaped From the quiet, introspective study equally by the documentary of a young teacher’s uncertainties in element apparent in all of his Une Semaine de Vacances, works, a feature reinforced by his use of camera, favouring an Tavernier went straight on to another work revolving around ‘uncomposed’ style which prefers to follow characters closely, themes of loneliness and doubt. Coup de Torchon (Clean Slate) with wide shots appearing to be used in order to accommodate concentrates just as intimately on the internal struggle of the movements of characters whose movements are not asinglecharacter, but Lucien Cordier, the lazy, ineffectual, prejudged, as if what the do next cannot be known. Tavernier’s corrupt police chief of Bourkassa could hardly have been more first major work of non-fiction was Philippe Soupault et le different from the fragile, dedicated Laurence Cuers, seeming to Surréalisme (1982), a lengthy documentary produced for video have little connection with her beyond sharing the same initials. about the elderly surrealist painter, which he developed with Jean Coup de Torchon was Tavernier’s third film to come directly Aurenche, and he has continued to make documentaries at from a novel, Pop. 1280 by American crime writer Jim regular intervals, once describing his need to return to the form Thompson. as a way of ‘getting back to reality’ and ‘coming out of the He chose to work on the adaptation with Jean Aurenche dream’ again, ‘rediscovering how to open one’s eyes and think again, and it was the last drama they created together. Like their quickly’. Tavernier’s co-producer at Little Bear, Frédéric earlier reworking of Simenon, Tavernier and Aurenche Bourboulon, said, ‘the word that always comes to mind when transposed the narrative to another place and time, but this time thinking about Bertrand is “cinéaste citoyen”—“citizen film- even more radically, substituting the American Deep South for maker”’. Identifying his director’s commitment to society as the French colonial West Africa. The setting allowed Tavernier to most defining aspect of his cinema, Bourboulon stressed the maintain the elements of endemic racism present in the novel, dialogue between Tavernier’s dramas and his documentaries, and to take another opportunity to confront French audiences regarding them as inseparable. His attitude is not surprising , he with a chapter in their country’s history that was open to serious having been already closely involved with Tavernier as producer moral questioning. Tavernier and Aurenche also moved the story around the time when the latter created two works of non-fiction forward from around 1917 to 1938, just before the outbreak of that are hugely important in defining his attitude as a political world War II, showing once again the director’s fascination with film-maker: La Guerre Sans Nom (The Undeclared War, 1991) a world on the brink by choosing to expose his protagonist’s and De l’Autre Coté du Périph’ (The Other Side of the Tracks, anxieties and doubts against a backdrop of impending upheaval, 1997)…. just as he had done in Que la Fête Commence….The celebratedly eclectic nature of Tavernier’s output could already be traced Since the release of his very first feature, analysis of the political simply in the contrasting dramatic situations, settings and period content of Tavernier’s cinema has been offered alongside that framed his fictional works, but the contrasts between Une evaluation which tends to single out for comment the humanistic Semaine de Vacances and Coup de Torchon seemed to run much nature of the drama….Tavernier admitted that the pessimism of deeper, amounting to a shocking, totally opposite perspective on Coup de Torchon was partly a reaction against what he perceived the human condition. The sheer nihilism of Coup de Torchon ran to be the particular value that had been attached to the warmth of counter to the apparently life-affirming attitude which his earlier work, culminating in the tenderness that creates the underpinned Tavernier’s ‘humanism’, and its essentially reactive optimism of Une Semaine de Vacances. ‘I made the film because quality reflects Tavernier’s conscious rebellion against his own I wanted to break the image of my nobility; because I was being image: labeled as a humanist director.’ I very often like to do a film against the previous film, In principle, Tavernier was irritated more by obsessive maybe using the experience of the film I’ve just made pigeon-holing than by his being equated with humanist values, but going against it, in order to set a new challenge, and and would later reaffirm his personal distrust of the crude so as not to become the prisoner of certain routines. I Tavernier—COUP DE TORCHON—6

had just done a film which had been pensive, lyrical, seen losing his grip completely on his own existence he shares quiet, and I tried to do the opposite—a film which was some of the troubled facets of both Philippe d’Orléans in Que la in a way lyrical, but devastating, wild, angry, funny. I Fête Commence… and Sergeant Bouvier in Le Juge et l’Assassin. tried to get on film what I was finding in the books of Like the regent, Lucien is acutely aware of the problems that Jim Thompson—the metaphysics and the humour, the surround him, but he is overwhelmed by their sheer scale, farce and the sexual provocation and the despair— expressing similar feelings of resignation and impotence. Lucien, things which had already attracted people like Stanley like Bouvier, seems to apply real logic and truth in the arguments Kubrick, whom I learned that he uses to justify his murderous afterwards had wanted to do behaviour, making a compelling case The Killer Inside Me and also that his isolated acts of violence worked with Jim Thompson on amount to very little in the face of the two screenplays—The Killing systematic evil that surrounds him. [1956] and Lucien too is highly perceptive, [1958]—you can see what although he offers fewer ready Thompson brought to those answers, preferring to accept a view films. Coup de Torchon was that the unknown explanations for all also a way of fighting against the troubles of the world are probably My image as a humanist extremely complex, and this awareness director. I wanted to be faithful alone establishes that he is far from to Thompson, because he completely insane. doesn’t leave any easy way out. It would have been very Tavernier’s previous films had all exploited characters’ easy to include some character making a kind of liberal sense of humour, and included comic moments to offset or statement which would have helped us judge the other counterpoint the darker elements of the drama, but Coup de characters and the situation, but that would have been Torchon was his first real comedy. Lucien is constantly up to no the worst betrayal of Thompson. I remember showing good, using practical jokes as a way of getting his own back on the film at the Sundance Festival and two people saying, those who spoil his quality of life with petty abuse and ‘My God, how can we accept the fact that Philippe exploitation, and almost every speaking character in the film Noiret killed the black guy. It’s impossible.’ They were provides moments of comedy, from Vanderbrouck’s descent absolutely outraged and felt that it was not liberal to do through the vandalized floorboards to his own latrine, to Fête that, not politically correct, but Thompson is not Nat’s devastating dismissal of the friendly advance of Le Peron’s politically correct. I think that’s what makes him alive, ‘ghost’, to Lucien’s mistress Rose’s hilariously insincere shock and fascinating. He is very much on the left, but he is at the news of her husband’s death. As well as engaging in jokes not a clean-up, liberal democrat. He does not allow you and pranks, Le Peron, Chevasson, Nono, Rose and many of the any easy way to cope with the situation. He forces you white population of Bourkassa are seen to be actively reveling in to stay there with your wounds, your doubts, your fear their own comic activities, and the constantly erupting comedy is and you have to find a way to get out of that yourself. It integral to the film’s viewpoint on corruption and injustice. is something which I loved in the book, and I tried to While everyone else seems content to protect their own status respect it, and it was very difficult. quo through self-indulgence, ignoring the darkening clouds around them, Lucien’s ability to lose himself in satisfying his Lucien, the fourth lead role to be played by Philippe Noiret, was sensual appetites and shut out the horrors around him decreases. an extreme contrast with the actor’s previous incarnations., and He becomes, like Bouvier, the reluctant visionary, at the mercy Tavernier’s least sympathetic protagonist to date. All the same, of terrible thoughts that he is unable to stop entering his head. this anti-hero’s complex nature shared many essential qualities Instead of respite from splitting headaches, all Lucien craves is to with those earlier roles which seemed to fit much more easily sleep and to find some rest from his increasingly tangled life and into the image of Tavernier’s humanism, and Lucien reinforces his own dark ideas, which he is unable to find. His sleep is Tavernier’s interest in loneliness as an essential aspect of the constantly invaded, either by nocturnal visits bringing new human condition.… The difference between Lucien’s loneliness troubles resulting from his latest murder or by nightmares about and that of others such as Michel Descombes is that he is not just corpses or his own terrible childhood. aware of his lonely state, he is conscious of his situation to the Lucien’s confused uncertainty and the sense of point of becoming totally obsessed by it, allowing festering impending chaos around him are the elements that shape Coup de thoughts about himself and his position in a terrible world to turn Torchon stylistically. The film was the sixth and final over and over in his head, sharing them with anyone who will collaboration on a drama between Tavernier and Pierre-William listen. Glenn, and their work on the project resulted in a film that Throughout Coup de Torchon, Lucien’s obsession with looked totally different from anything they had done before. In the evil that surrounds him grows to the point that he cites it as Death Watch they had already used the recently invented justification for virtually anything that he does, notably a series Steadicam to follow Katherine in the flea-market chase sequence, of murders committed with increasing ease, and we see him in a and they decided to use the device very extensively throughout vicious circle of petty revenge in the face of a world saturated Coup de Torchon, harnassing its particular effect on movement with evil at every turn, being pulled inexorably into madness. in order to place Lucien’s world within a peculiarly unsettling Insanity is the other major theme of the film, and while Lucien is frame: Tavernier—COUP DE TORCHON—7

I wanted to do a kind of experiment—to do practically Lucien’s relationship with his environment is nervous, an entire film on Steadicam. For me, the image of the riddled with fear of the anxieties and threats that lurk all around Steadicam fitted in very well with the moral ambiguities him, and Tavernier employs a very reactive frame in Coup de of Thompson’s world—giving the impression that you Torchon, one which frequently moves rapidly in response to are never on stable ground and that nothing is ever quite peoples arrival, as if to suggest Lucien’s increasing need to look solid in that. I wanted to use the Steadicam in the nervously over his shoulder for yet something else to worry opposite way that Kubrick did in The Shining—not hide about, then deal with reluctantly. The sudden camera movements the way that I was using the Steadicam, but using it in also serve as a mirror to the film’s intrinsic violence, which is order to gain the feeling from a certain kind of image always just around the corner. The framing of the film is far that was the opposite of all the old colonial French more kinetic than anything that Tavernier had done so far, films. We watched a lot of those colonial French films creating a visual restlessness that underlines the nature of before making Coup de Torchon, and the films taking Lucien’s wanderings—always searching for something, but place in North Africa were always very dark and never really knowing what it is that he is looking for. Tavernier’s pessimistic, but the darkness was announced, growing interest in using the camera to link people with their publicized, and done in a very obvious way from the environment is more apparent than ever before, often linking first frame, and the images were always Lucien and his world with a panning camera very framed and stable, with a lot of movement, but done in a specific manner in Coup importance devoted to the centre of de Torchon. Unlike most of the previous examples image—the flag was always in the centre from the earlier films, the camera often takes us of image; the main character was always from an image of Bourkassa or one of its other in the centre of image. In many of those inhabitants onto Lucien, but never in the other films you knew that the people in them direction, in a system that conveys the idea that the were condemned—I wanted to do the community that exists in Bourkassa is exerting opposite in Coup de Torchon, to have influence on him, but that he cannot hope to nothing announced in advance. I wanted reverse the effect. to create an image without any centre The visual style of Coup de Torchon is and without any diagonal composition, unlike anything that Tavernier had done, but but having instead a sense that things are Lucien has a very strong connection with two of a little bit broken apart, that you never Tavernier’s earlier characters in particular: know where the central focus of the Philippe d’Orléans and Sergeant Bouvier, and the image is. Coup de Torchon was one of crucial element linking them is despair. He the films where the aesthetic principle understand that none of the things that need to be was very clear long before starting the done to create justice in the world will happen, just film. as the regent did, and his superficial laziness masks the true sense Glenn’s use of Steadicam exploited its inherently unstable of failure eating away at the soul of a man who has given up quality, where its listing effect, especially during rapid completely on the possibility of being good, overwhelmed by his movement, tends to create a disconcerting, slightly sickening sense of impotence when confronted with the unnecessary effect. Following the opening sequence in which Lucien is first suffering of the Africans around him. His despair leads him introduced as a malevolent figure by the heavy blows and towards the embrace of violence and murder himself, diverting swollen melodrama of ’s score, only to be seen his remaining energy into the task of working out arguments that lighting a fire to help the African children chilled by the sun’s justify his actions Like Bouvier, Lucien ends up referring to eclipse, we see him walking towards the town once daylight has himself as Jesus Christ, coping with his failure to find any returned. Lucien approaches hesitantly at first, as though he apparent divine meaning or explanation by filling the void cannot face returning to the town, before gathering the strength himself, using any method he chooses. Although Aurenche was to march in. As he does, the town’s natural sounds of bustle are anti-clerical by nature, and this was clear from some of his earlier conveyed by a sweeping frame of Lucien’s travelling point of work with Tavernier, this did not come across in Coup de view. The combination of Steadicam image and the stretched Torchon. The priest, who replaced a different character in perspective of a wide-angle lens exaggerate the dizzying, chaotic Thompson’s novel, urges Lucien to show people he can perform impression of the milling crowds which cross the frame, and this his duties properly and honourably. He unwittingly provides him sense of sudden loss of control fixes the atmosphere of the film at with the motivation to commit another killing, but his words are once. The frequent use of Steadicam throughout the film also intended to do good,, and he is one of the few characters who creates a frame that, like the protagonist, never seems to be quite does not seem to share the racism that contaminates most of at rest. Its effect is strangely supportive of the drama, in ways Bourkassa’s white population. that are almost in opposition. The eerie fluidity enhances the The only other truly benevolent character is Anne, the sense of a dream-state, reflecting Lucien’s sleeplessness and young teacher, who succeeds in provoking Lucien’s small acts of nightmares, yet at the same time it seems to assist Tavernier’s generosity towards the African children, and who pricks his typical desire for realism at some level, creating a frame that ocnscience painfully after seeing him avoid an African who is appears uncontrived, with the people of Bourkassa who form the being beaten by Marcaillou. At the time of its release, the film story’s background of poverty seeming to move in and out of the was, above all else, Tavernier’s most religious work so far. frame randomly, rather than being placed there. Lucien’s anxieties and fears do not relate to his concern with the Tavernier—COUP DE TORCHON—8

aggravating obstacles that threaten his daily quest for a quiet and d’Orléans, Lucien, and François de Cortemart express doubt over easy life; instead they are the consuming despair of a man who is the intentions, presence and existence of God, but whereas Coup finding it more and more difficult to shut out enormous evils that de Torchon shows us a man becoming worn out with the struggle he can see and hear and touch. Lucien not only realizes that he is for answers, La Passion Béatrice confronts us with someone who utterly incapable of preventing the cruelty and injustice, but can seems to have reached the end, having totally given up on God. actually sense it growing around him, as surely as the hints of the Coup de Torchon opens with titles, initially obscured as impending war that will engulf the world. He is aware of the if by a shimmering heat-haze, which then rapidly clears to reveal small pieces of the jigsaw of his existence, such as his father’s the words, providing the impression of sudden revelations, racial prejudices and the fact that he himself was the cause of his similar to those which will hit the main characters as the drama own mother’s death in childbirth; he senses their importance in develops. Lucien’s twisted realization of the path he must take is shaping his own life, but remains incapable of shaping them to only one of several such moments. Anne is almost struck dumb help him cope. Having suffered constant blame and contempt at when she finds out from Lucien’s blackboard confession just the hands of his bereaved father, both his childhood and the how far he has gone, and this in turn seems to cause her to subsequent existence in Bourkassa that forces him to accept suddenly grasp the cynical nature of the situation in which she is failure as a way of life have created a broken man whose destiny mired, as she breaks off absently from her recital of ‘La is mapped out by his desperate lack of self-worth. Lucien is the Marseillaise’ with her class of African children. It is Rose who most child-like of Tavernier’s adult protagonists, more poignant ends up with the task of trying to force Lucien to see the true than Roddy in Death Watch because he is older and because he is nature of what he has done, her shocked efforts made all the all too aware of the fact that he has been unable to leave more powerful because of their revelatory contrast with all the childhood at all, never mind unscathed. When he tries to convey spoiled, childish naïvety she had displayed earlier. The film ends his sense of self to the teacher Anne while they are walking alone with Lucien seemingly having reached the inevitable point where together at night, she seems simply lost for words, as though his brutalized logic would take him: training a gun on some resigned to the fact that any response is ultimately futile. African children, murder having now been reduced to a casual Following on from Philippe d’Orléans’ soul-searching event that finally requires no justification at all. The last thing we in Que la Fête Commence…, Lucien’s confusion and despair see is him lowering the gun, perhaps reaching another point of render Coup de Torchon part of a trilogy of doubt, the second realization, perhaps simply too exhausted to continue, having chapter of a terrible descent that would finally be completed in spent so much energy while constructing his rejection of God and La Passion Béatrice (1987). In spite of the dreadful acts that explaining it to the world that he seems ultimately unable to let Lucien commits and his claimed belief that his increasingly go completely. Ultimately, Cordier’s doubts remain far more spurious reasons for murder are justified, a small flame of human nihilistic than Tavernier expresses in real life, and it is Rose who kindness still flickers in his soul, through his apparently natural seems to mirror the director’s own words more aptly, in her tendency to at least try to assist the vulnerable and defenceless exchange with the priest during the funeral of her husband, people who cross his path. His soul is not yet empty, and Mercaillou: although Tavernier shows him to be a man horribly contaminated Priest: Come on Rose—you believe in God… by evils even greater than his own, there is little about him— Rose: Well…yes. including the worst of his actions, such as the merciless killing of Priest: Yes what? Really! Fête Nat —which could adequately prepare audiences for the Rose: Well, I believe—but not really. terrifying chill and darkness to be discovered later in the soul of François de Cortemart in La Passion Béatrice. Philippe

JUST FIVE MORE IN THE SPRING 2011 BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS XXII: Mar 29 Werner Herzog FITZCARRALDO 1982 Apr 5 Nagisa Ôshima MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE 1983 Apr 12 Stephen Frears THE GRIFTERS 1990 Apr 19 Jafar Panahi DAYEREH/THE CIRCLE 2000 Apr 26 Ridley Scott BLADE RUNNER1982 CONTACTS: ...email Diane Christian: [email protected] …email Bruce Jackson [email protected] ...for the series schedule, annotations, links and updates: http://buffalofilmseminars.com ...to subscribe to the weekly email informational notes, send an email to addto [email protected] ....for cast and crew info on any film: http://imdb.com/

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