DVD review: Sans Soleil
A coworker who often blogs about fashion books suggested I write up a recommendation of a certain 1968 movie musical after I mentioned I had a hole in my pocket. I said sure but decided to Puckishly one up the semiotic slipperiness and give a nod to Chris Marker’s 1983 masterpiece Sans Soleil. Supposedly a film director reading letters from her cameraman lover with accompanying images, the film is a profound Gassian meditation on what it means to remember and what it means to forget. Who would want to watch a meandering 2 ½ hour dreamalogue of people who are far more traveled and poetic then yourself? Apparently, library patrons, as the library’s recently purchased copies already have holds. We are Nashville. You make me proud.
For all its snooty French pretension, what really gets me about this movie is some swee-eat early 80s video effects and a shot of seemingly everyday Japanese people doing public aerobics to Throbbing Gristle. Surely, this is trickery.
Included on the disc is Marker’s dystopian slideshow reinterp of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Le jetée. Dream your heart out.
- Bryan
Themocracy
Love Chris Marker! Esp. La Jettee. Glad to know this is in the collection.
-John
Sans Soleil is the second greatest movie ever made. For some reason the opening always makes me cry and I don’t know why. The whole movie defies words. Maybe the only way to talk about it is by making ones own movie.
Don’t let Bryan’s assessment of the movie as a 2 and half hour snootfest turn you away, as this is hardly an early 70′s Godardian polemic. It is actually a lean 1hr and 40 mins of pure cinematic poetry.