Daney opposed the image to the visual, the film frame, because, among other things, an image always means otherness, a meeting with the other (“the predisposition for a meeting: that is cinema”, in Godard’s words). His lovely, intimate conversation with Sanbar —historian and collector of images— based on personal photographs is a meeting between two cultures, North and South, two stories that share the desire to talk. Puissance de la parole is one of Godard’s great essay films; taking as its starting point a short story by Poe, it blends the conversation of a couple, a cosmic discussion and images of nature, in a memorable sound montage with music by Bach, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Beethoven.
La preuve par Prince, Serge Daney, 1988, 6 min
Puissance de la parole, Jean-Luc Godard, 1988, 25 min
Conversation nord-sud, Daney/Sanbar, Simone Bitton y Catherine Poitevin, 1998, 46 min
O.V French - Subt. Catalan
Digital screenings.
