Cinéma vérité

For other uses, see Cinema vérité (disambiguation).

Cinéma vérité (French: [sinema veʁite], "truthful cinema"; English: /ˈsɪnɨmə vɛrɨˈteɪ/) is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.

There are subtle yet important differences among these terms. Direct Cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera's presence. Operating within what Bill Nichols,^[1] an American historian and theoretician of documentary film, calls the "observational mode," direct cinema is essentially what is now called a fly on the wall documentary. Many therefore see a paradox created by drawing attention away from the reality of the camera and simultaneously declaring the discovery of a cinematic truth.^{[citation needed]}

Background

Cinéma vérité can involve stylized set-ups and the interaction between the filmmaker and the subject, even to the point of provocation. Some argue that the obvious presence of the filmmaker and camera was seen by most cinéma vérité filmmakers as the best way to reveal the truth in cinema.^{[citation needed]} The camera is always acknowledged, for it performs the raw act of filming real objects, people, and events in a confrontational way. The filmmaker's intention was to represent the truth in what he or she was seeing as objectively as possible, freeing people from any deceptions in how those aspects of life were formerly presented to them. From this perspective, the filmmaker should be the catalyst of a situation. Few agree on the meanings of these terms, even the filmmakers whose films are being described.

Pierre Perrault sets situations up, and then films it, for example in Pour la suite du monde where he asked old people to fish for whale. The result is not a documentary about whale fishing; it is about memory and lineage. In this sense cinéma vérité is concerned with anthropological cinema, and with the social and political implications of what is captured on film. How a filmmaker shoots a film, what is being filmed, what to do with what was filmed, and how that film will be presented to an audience, all were very important for filmmakers of the time.

In all cases, the ethical and aesthetic analysis of documentary form of the 1950s and '60s has to be linked with a critical look at post-war propaganda analysis. The best way to describe this type of cinema is probably to say that it is concerned with notions of truth and reality in film.

As Edgar Morin wrote: "There are two ways to conceive of the cinema of the Real: the first is to pretend that you can present reality to be seen; the second is to pose the problem of reality. In the same way, there were two ways to conceive cinéma vérité. The first was to pretend that you brought truth. The second was to pose the problem of truth." ^[2]

Feminist documentary films of the 1970s often used cinéma-vérité techniques. Soon this sort of 'realism' was criticized for its deceptive pseudo-natural construction of reality.^{[citation needed]} For example, in 1979 Michelle Citron released Daughter Rite, a feminist pseudo-documentary which deconstructs the conventions of cinéma vérité.

Filmmakers associated with the style

• Jon Alpert
• Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (Creative Thinking International)
• Michel Brault and Gilles Groulx (Les Raquetteurs, 1958)
• Nick Broomfield
• Linda Goode Bryant
• John Cassavetes
• Robert Drew
• Tamara Goldsworthy
• Claude Jutra
• Amos Gitai
• Allan King
• Louis King
• Barbara Kopple^[3]
• Harmony Korine
• Roman Kroitor
• Richard Leacock^[4]
• Barbara Loden
• Chris Marker
• John Marshall
• Pau Masó
• The Maysles Brothers (Albert and David Maysles)
• Michael Moore
• D.A. Pennebaker
• David Perlov
• Jean Rouch^[3]
• Ulrich Seidl
• Ellen Spiro
• Bela Tarr
• Dziga Vertov
• Frederick Wiseman^[3][5]
• David Bradbury
• Jehane Noujaim

Select cinéma-vérité films

• 24 ID seconde (2000)
• À Hauteur d'homme (2003)
• After Life (1999)
• Bad Boys (1961)
• Billy the Kid (2007)^[6]
• The Carter (2009)
• C'était un rendez-vous (1976)
• Chronique d'un été (1961)
• Cocksucker Blues (1972)
• Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)
• Demon Lover Diary (1980)
• Distance (2001)
• Dont Look Back (1967)
• Down for Life (2009)
• Eat the Document (1969)
• Elizabeth and Mary (1965)
• The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)
• Flag Wars (2003)
• Gimme Shelter (1970)
• Grey Gardens (1975)
• Happy Mother's Day (1964)
• High School (1968)
• Hoop Dreams (1994)
• Hospital (1970)
• Import/Export (2007)
• Iraq in Fragments (2007)
• The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife (1991)
• Lonely Boy (1962)
• Moi Un Noir (1958)
• Mysterious Object at Noon (2000)
• Near Death (1989)
• Primary (1960)
• Les Raquetteurs (1958) (French article)
• Salesman (1969)
• Seventeen (1983)
• The Plaint of Steve Kreines as recorded by his younger brother Jeff (1974)
• Titicut Follies (1967)
• Wanda (1971)
• Warrendale (1967)
• West 47th Street (2003)
• Woodstock (1970)

The techniques (if not always the spirit) of cinéma vérité can also be seen in fiction films such as The Battle of Algiers, The Blair Witch Project, Children of Men, Jimmy and Judy, Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead, District 9, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Battle: Los Angeles, REC, Saving Private Ryan and Paranormal Activity among others.

Short films

• A Day in the Death of Donny B (1969)

Cinéma-vérité style films and television shows

Many film directors of the 1960s and later adopted use of the handheld camera, techniques and cinéma vérité styles for their fiction films based on screenplays and actors. They often had actors use improvisation to try to get a more spontaneous quality to the takes. Influential examples include director John Cassavetes, who broke ground with his film Faces.^[7]

The techniques of cinéma vérité were also readily adapted to use in TV fiction programs, such as Homicide: Life on the Street, The X-Files' COPS episode,^[8] Sanctuary, Friday Night Lights, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues, Battlestar Galactica, The Thick Of It, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Lost, Arrested Development, Reno 911!, Trailer Park Boys, as well as both the UK and American versions of The Office. Documentary series are less common, but include:

• Band of Brothers
• COPS
• The Pacific
• The Real World
• The Thick of It
• Trauma: Life in the E.R.
• American High
• The First 48

See also

• Dogme 95
• Found footage (genre)

References

1. ^ Nichols, Bill. Introducing the Documentary. Indiana University Press, 2001, p. 109.
2. ^ "Il y a deux façons de concevoir le cinéma du réel : la première est de prétendre donner à voir le réel; la seconde est de se poser le problème du réel. De même, il y avait deux façons de concevoir le cinéma vérité. La première était de prétendre apporter la vérité. La seconde était de se poser le problème de la vérité."^{[citation needed]}
3. ^ ^{a b c} Plot description of Cinéma Vérité: Defining The Moment, accessed online on the New York Times website 23 October 2006.
4. ^ Richard Leacock in Allmovie, accessed online on the New York Times website 23 October 2006.
5. ^ Daniel Asa Rose, Frederick Wiseman Takes His Camera to the Races, The New York Times, June 1, 1986. Accessed online 23 October 2006.
6. ^ Apple - Trailers - Billy the Kid - Trailer^{[dead link]}
7. ^ John Cassavetes in Allmovie, accessed online on the New York Times website 23 October 2006.
8. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751264/

External links

• "Pour la suite du Monde/The Moontrap" at the Internet Movie Database
• Cinéma vérité - the documentary