Sartre by Himself (Alexandre Astruc, Michel Contat, 1976)

[Cirlot]

Resién publicao por bzoler en Fileheaven. Sin verificar (ni la calidad del ripeo ni el idioma).

''SARTRE PAR LUI-MEME (Sartre by Himself),'' which opens today at the Film Forum, is a 3-hour, 10-minute film usually described as a ''talking heads'' movie. That's exactly what ''Sartre par Lui-Meme'' is, and when the talking heads belong to Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and a small circle of friends, you can't do much better. However, because the talk in the film is entirely in French, ''Sartre par Lui-Meme'' also is an exercise in the reading of subtitles.

The film was photographed mostly in 1972, but it was not completed until 1976, by which time Sartre had already changed his mind on a number of the subjects covered by this extraordinary documentary. Yet the film, like Sartre, who died two years ago at the age of 74, is even more important for its demonstration of the way one remarkable man looked at life and perceived the world than for the beliefs expressed at any particular time.



The setting is Sartre's book-littered study in his Montparnasse apartment, where, accompanied by Miss de Beauvoir and several friends, he sits by a table, chain-smoking and answering the questions of the film makers, Alexandre Astruc and Michel Contat. He's witty, sometimes mercilessly articulate and responds enthusiastically to the film's rigorously simple format.

Gently prodded by the film makers, Sartre produces what is, in effect, a chronological, aural autobiography beginning with his boyhood in Paris and La Rochelle and traveling on through his schooling in Paris, what he describes as his traumatic introduction to adulthood, and his early writings in fiction and philosophy. He talks easily but never glibly, as if he himself were never quite sure what new truths or understandings he might come across.

He acknowledges contradictions within himself never satisfactorily resolved, especially the contradiction of being an intellectual as well as an activist. He speaks with special eloquence about the time of the German occupation of France, his frequently bitter, off-again, on-again relations with the Communist Party, and his increasing identification with France's New Left movement after May 1968.



The film is full of memorable quotes. Of his looks: ''It was the brutality of fate that I was born ugly, but I wasn't obsessed by it.'' Of fiction: ''Literature yields no secrets. It is just a record.'' Of his international fame after World War II as the father of Existentialism, ''Simone and I write to be read, to communicate. Not to reveal hidden truths.''

He occasionally brings Miss de Beauvoir into the discussion, and sometimes she jumps in on her own, as when Sartre rather casually reports that she once described all of his books as being ''full of lies.'' ''Tricks,'' she corrects him. ''Full of tricks.'' There is a sharp but brief disagreement about the exact year in which they both stopped writing in cafes. Miss de Beauvoir, asked what had drawn her to Sartre when they both were students, says simply, ''He never stopped thinking, and that interested me.''

At one point he makes a slip of the tongue, ''I am, therefore I think,'' which briefly amuses him but hardly seems worth analyzing. Though the movie is long, it seems effortless, as good talk always is. The film makers occasionally vary the images by cutting to stock newsreel clips of great historical events - World Wars I and II, the Spanish Civil War, Vietnam, etc., but such visual diversions are unnecessary. The thoughts and the words that express them are infinitely rich.




Alexandre.Astruc,.Michel.Contat.-.Sartre.by.Himself(Sartre.Par.Lui-Me)_1976_Part.1.mpg

Alexandre.Astruc,.Michel.Contat.-.Sartre.By.Himself(Sartre.Par.Lui-même).1976.Part.2.mpg

Alexandre.Astruc,.Michel.Contat.-.Sartre.By.Himself(Sartre.Par.Lui-M-E).1976.Part.3.mpg
:cheers:

Salud, comas y República.

[Fitzcarraldo]

already posted here:

viewtopic.php?t=21983&highlight=sartre

in the thread daseinforlorn amazing shares.

I haven't downloaded myself I hate sartre, but I guess someone has.

[Cirlot]

already posted here:

viewtopic.php?t=21983&highlight=sartre

in the thread daseinforlorn amazing shares.

I haven't downloaded myself I hate sartre, but I guess someone has.

Thanks, Fitz, for pointing it out. I just read you in Fileheaven saying this is a 4 CDs rip, and someone you know could share the missing 4th CD. Could you do so, please, even if you hate Sartre (I don' t)?

By the way, do you happen to know whether this is in French hardsubbed in English, or whether it' s dubbed in English? Thanks again.

Salud, comas y República