Artaud biography rages around Paris
He was all the rage in Paris; filled with enough anger to be put into an insane asylum for nine years. Gerard Mordillat's My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud (En Compagnie d'Antonin Artaud) is filled with scenes of the ambience of which only Paris can boast, ones of lit Gauloises, smoked-filled sidewalk cafes featuring passionate debates of art, literature and theater .
Set in Paris in the late '40s, the film chronicles Jacques Prevel's (Marc Barbé) relationship with Antonin Artaud (Sami Frey) during the last two years of Artaud's life.
Antonin Artaud, founder of the Theater of Cruelty in the '20s, is the sickly poet, surrealist, playwright and madman who rants about sex, art and the world that's against him. He gained fame long ago, and now, after being released from an insane asylum, he is something of a cult figure in Paris. He has become dependent upon hard drugs in order to work and "free the mind." The film begins upon his release from the asylum.
Prevel, a would-be poet who cannot get any of his writings published, implores Artaud to give him advice and encouragement on his poetry. He hopes that Artaud's help will procure publishing of his work into the seemingly impenetrable literary market of Paris. In exchange for his advice, Prevel supplies Artaud with hard drugs from Parisian pharmacies. (Yes, this was possible in '40s Paris.)
The women in the film also add an injection of verite to the movie's bohemian style. Jany (Julie Jezequel), Prevel's mistress, is a stark contrast to Prevel's wife, Rolande (Valerie Jeannet), the very picture of domesticity. The pregnant Rolande irons her husband's shirts and cooks his meals even though he is never there. He even misses the birth of his own child because he is in bed with his mistress.
Outside his time spent with Artaud, Prevel bounces back and forth between his mistress and wife, as if changing between brands of cognac.
Made in 1993, the black and white film is given a grainy look for a postwar bohemian aura. The Truffaut and Godard influences on this film are evident in the freehand style of directing; it is obvious that Mordillat gave his own Cinema Verite stamp on this film.
Sami Frey's portrayal of Antonin Artaud gives this film a surreal and maniacal side that is both frightful and exciting. Near death and loaded on opiates, Frey plays an Artaud who is death in motion with a sickly pale skin that is overshadowed only by the intensely dark bags under his eyes. Amid the haze of his chain smoking, Artaud spouts incoherent phrases of what seems to be absurd nonsense but is actually his world of incomprehensible pain and anguish. Prevel, while certainly pursuing his own agenda of seeing his work get to print, can only sit back and watch as Artaud screams and rants about the presentation of his poetry as well as witness how the drugs take over his mentor's life.
If you haven't seen a French film lately, this is certainly one worth the time. In French with English subtitles, My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud will leave the Left Bank, cafes and maddening disillusionment, oozing in your mind.
My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud makes its Houston premiere March 29 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. at the Rice Media Center.
This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the March 29, 1996 issue.
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