Film Criticism 22 "Au pan coupé", 1967 by Guy Gilles

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French film, stylistically Nouvelle Vague, that explores themes of love, loss, and memory. Narrated through a poetic and melancholic style, the film follows Jean, a young man reflecting on his past relationship with Jeanne, a girl (Macha Méril) with whom he shared an intense yet brief love story in Paris. The film is filled with lyrical imagery, where urban architecture and landscapes serve as visual metaphors for fragility and the passage of time. Gilles employs a contrasting approach of color and black-and-white to capture the nostalgia and disillusionment of the 1960s. Au pan coupé stands out for its fragmented narrative and experimental aesthetic, reflecting a personal and subjective way of storytelling, evoking a profound unease reminiscent of Malle’s cinema. A sense of realism emerges from the film’s images, as well-framed as they are composed, with cropped shots of characters placed geometrically within the space, with a sensuality that arises solely from their position in the frame.


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Au pan coupé
carries a Godardian air, akin to Le Petit Soldat or La Femme Mariée, fragmented and poetic, with a focus on the inner life and emotions of its characters. Love and death merge in a sweeping movement as cinematic as it is literary and musical. The words are beautiful, yes (we feel the literary baggage of the young man) but above all, it’s the music (Vivaldi and his overwhelming atmospheres) and the imagery that resonate. One can also sense Bresson in the film’s fondness for tight shots that capture a detail: a mouth, a hand, an object. In fact, the entire film is composed of memories, and this sense of reminiscence is magnificently conveyed through subliminal imagery, snippets of dialogue, fleeting shots of details, moments of happiness a full symphony of the passage of time. Ultimately, it is a magnificent film of impressions.

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