Philippe Grandrieux
Encyclopedia
Philippe Jesus Grandrieux is a French film director born in 1954.
and Robert Frank
. He also taught movies from time to time at la FEMIS (Fondation Européenne pour les Métiers de l’Image et du Son) and at l’Ecole à l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts (Paris).
, Jean Epstein
and Pier Paolo Pasolini
who were constantly looking for and inventing new narrative forms that would only fit films, Grandrieux’s films, deriving from horror movies and experimental movies, give the viewer intense sensorial experiences. His goal is to make the viewer psychologically involved in his movies. Its films actually express a whole world of energies based on sensations and affects despite a linear narration and an iconography that relies on archetypes that refer to the archaic images of the fairy tale and the legend. Tim Palmer situates Grandrieux's work within an ongoing tendency of a cinema of the body, linked to other filmmakers such as Marina de Van, Diane Bertrand, Damien Odoul and Claire Denis.
For his soundtrack, he worked with Alan Vega
(on Sombre) and with the musicians, poets and performers of the band “Etant Donnés” (on A New Life). The American actor Zachary Knighton
played the main character with Anna Mouglalis
. The writer Eric Vuillard also participated in the writing of the script of A New Life. A part of the email exchange between Grandrieux and Vuillard about the script has been published in the French film review Trafic.
The psychanalist Jean-Claude Polack declares about Grandrieux’s movies that they “carefully try to understand the exact inner-working of one’s psychic, and more especially the part that deals with desire and transformation. How does desire work? What are the elements that this energy-matter is using to expand its empire? What are the social repressions that desire has to face? Unlike Pasolini who is really interested in the way that society is theatrically transforming the ceremony of predating into a show, there is here an experimental cinema; it is true; that is trying to register, thanks to the camera, what humans eyes would never be able to see in order to deconstruct and analyze reality. Grandrieux’s films are analytical films, like a microscope, that give the viewer the possibility to see more accurately what is movement, emotion, sensation, colour, darkness and the emergence of the image (either material or thought). What is the process that enables something to become an image in the dark? Why can this process only be seen as a threat?”
In 2006, Grandrieux appeared in Sarah Bertrand’s documentary There is no direction.
In 2007, the singer Marilyn Manson
, who admits having seen La Vie nouvelle several times, asked Grandrieux to direct his video-clip for his song Putting Holes in Happiness that belongs to the album Eat Me, Drink Me.
In 2008, Japan paid homage to Grandrieux’s work, thanks to the French Ambassy, in the famous Uplink movie theater of Tokyo, under the title "Extreme Love - around Philippe Grandrieux".
The same year, the Tate Modern
of London, along the retrospective « PARADISE NOW ! Essential French Avant-Garde cinema 1890-2008 », played Putting Holes in Happiness, A New Life, The Late Season and an excerpt of A Lake, his latest movie, which was not completed back then.
A Lake was ready for the 65th Venice Film Festival (2008) where he won a Special Mention in the Orrizzonti Section which rewards movies that initiate new cinematographic trends.
His work has been influenced by the work of Edmond Bernhard, his teacher at the INSAS, Murnau, Robert Bresson
, Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
, Stan Brakhage
and also by his readings of Marc-Aurèle, Spinoza and Gilles Deleuze
’s work.
Stephen Dwoskin
(Londres)
Nick Wapplington (near Newcastle)
Robert Kramer
(Berlin)
Gary Hill
(U.S.A)
Thierry Kuntzel (Tampico)
Daniele Incalcaterra (Moscou)
Ken Kobland (Dallas)
Biography
He studied movies at the INSAS (Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle) in Brussels and started his career as a moviemaker by shooting fictional films and documentaries. Grandrieux then worked as an experimental filmmaker in Belgium where he exhibited his video works at local museums. Since the eighties, he has been working in collaboration with the French Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA) where he has been inventing new cinematographic forms and formats that put into question central notions in film writing: for instance the notions of documentary, information and film essay. In 1990, he created the film research lab “Live” which produced one hour long sequences by Thierry Kuntzel, Robert KramerRobert Kramer
Robert Kramer was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He directed 19 films between 1965 and 1999...
and Robert Frank
Robert Frank
Robert Frank , born in Zürich, Switzerland, is an important figure in American photography and film. His most notable work, the 1958 photobook titled The Americans, was influential, and earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his fresh and skeptical outsider's view of American...
. He also taught movies from time to time at la FEMIS (Fondation Européenne pour les Métiers de l’Image et du Son) and at l’Ecole à l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts (Paris).
Work
Grandrieux’s work covers several cinematographic fields : TV experimentation, video art, research movie, film essay, documentary and museum exhibition. His uncompromised vision of Art, leads him to push the boundaries of the cinematographic fields he is working on. As a consequence, he is always producing an inventive and radical cinema. His first two full-feature movies Sombre (which won an award at the Locarno Film Festival) and La Vie Nouvelle (A New Life) are exemplar of Grandrieux’s creativity in photography, sound and narration. Following the work of Teinosuke KinugasaTeinosuke Kinugasa
-External links:* *...
, Jean Epstein
Jean Epstein
Jean Epstein was a French filmmaker, film theorist, literary critic, and novelist. Although he is remembered today primarily for his adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, Epstein directed three dozen films and was an influential critic of literature and film from the...
and Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
who were constantly looking for and inventing new narrative forms that would only fit films, Grandrieux’s films, deriving from horror movies and experimental movies, give the viewer intense sensorial experiences. His goal is to make the viewer psychologically involved in his movies. Its films actually express a whole world of energies based on sensations and affects despite a linear narration and an iconography that relies on archetypes that refer to the archaic images of the fairy tale and the legend. Tim Palmer situates Grandrieux's work within an ongoing tendency of a cinema of the body, linked to other filmmakers such as Marina de Van, Diane Bertrand, Damien Odoul and Claire Denis.
For his soundtrack, he worked with Alan Vega
Alan Vega
Alan Vega For several years other sources stated that he was born in 1948 – see 'Myth' section is an American vocalist, primarily known for his work with electronic protopunk duo, Suicide...
(on Sombre) and with the musicians, poets and performers of the band “Etant Donnés” (on A New Life). The American actor Zachary Knighton
Zachary Knighton
Zachary Andrew Knighton is an American actor who currently stars as Dave Rose on the ABC comedy series Happy Endings. Prior to that, he co-starred as Dr. Bryce Varley on ABC's science fiction series FlashForward from 2009–2010....
played the main character with Anna Mouglalis
Anna Mouglalis
-Biography:Anna Mouglalis was born in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, to her Greek father and French mother. She spent her youth in the Var département, before moving back to Nantes with her family. Her father is a doctor and her mother is a masseuse. Until 2001 she studied at the Conservatoire National...
. The writer Eric Vuillard also participated in the writing of the script of A New Life. A part of the email exchange between Grandrieux and Vuillard about the script has been published in the French film review Trafic.
The psychanalist Jean-Claude Polack declares about Grandrieux’s movies that they “carefully try to understand the exact inner-working of one’s psychic, and more especially the part that deals with desire and transformation. How does desire work? What are the elements that this energy-matter is using to expand its empire? What are the social repressions that desire has to face? Unlike Pasolini who is really interested in the way that society is theatrically transforming the ceremony of predating into a show, there is here an experimental cinema; it is true; that is trying to register, thanks to the camera, what humans eyes would never be able to see in order to deconstruct and analyze reality. Grandrieux’s films are analytical films, like a microscope, that give the viewer the possibility to see more accurately what is movement, emotion, sensation, colour, darkness and the emergence of the image (either material or thought). What is the process that enables something to become an image in the dark? Why can this process only be seen as a threat?”
In 2006, Grandrieux appeared in Sarah Bertrand’s documentary There is no direction.
In 2007, the singer Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
, who admits having seen La Vie nouvelle several times, asked Grandrieux to direct his video-clip for his song Putting Holes in Happiness that belongs to the album Eat Me, Drink Me.
In 2008, Japan paid homage to Grandrieux’s work, thanks to the French Ambassy, in the famous Uplink movie theater of Tokyo, under the title "Extreme Love - around Philippe Grandrieux".
The same year, the Tate Modern
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...
of London, along the retrospective « PARADISE NOW ! Essential French Avant-Garde cinema 1890-2008 », played Putting Holes in Happiness, A New Life, The Late Season and an excerpt of A Lake, his latest movie, which was not completed back then.
A Lake was ready for the 65th Venice Film Festival (2008) where he won a Special Mention in the Orrizzonti Section which rewards movies that initiate new cinematographic trends.
His work has been influenced by the work of Edmond Bernhard, his teacher at the INSAS, Murnau, Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson
-Life and career:Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of Marie-Élisabeth and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life and the year of his birth, 1901 or 1907, varies depending on the source. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and...
, Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
, Stan Brakhage
Stan Brakhage
James Stanley Brakhage , better known as Stan Brakhage, was an American non-narrative filmmaker who is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century experimental film....
and also by his readings of Marc-Aurèle, Spinoza and Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus , both co-written with Félix...
’s work.
Filmography
- 1974 : Via la vidéo ( Albert Baronian Gallery / Brussels)
- 1975 : The Cubist Painting-La Peinture cubiste, co-directed by Thierry Kuntzel
- 1982 : Just An Image-Juste une image 9X55', co-directed by Thierry Garrel, Louisette Neil
- 1982 : A Generation-Une génération
- 1983 : Full Moon-Pleine Lune (Prize of the French Association of Critics of Television)
- 1984 : Full Size - Grandeur nature
- 1985 : Long courrier
- 1987 : The World is All What Happens-Le monde est tout ce qui arrive
- 1987 : AzimutAzimutAzimut is an Italian yacht-manufacturing company based in Avigliana, in the province of Turin. It was established in 1969 by Paolo Vitelli.The company started with sailing boat chartering, later developing into a large luxury yacht building industry. The first major work started with a contract at...
(4X30', with Paul VirilioPaul VirilioPaul Virilio is a cultural theorist and urbanist. He is best known for his writings about technology as it has developed in relation to speed and power, with diverse references to architecture, the arts, the city and the military....
, Jean Louis Schefer, Juan David Nasio) - 1990 : LiveLiveLive may refer to:*Alive*Living*Life*Live birth*Live vaccine*Live wire -Arts:*Live Art *Live coding*Live music *Live album*List of albums titled Live*Live , an alternative rock band...
(14X60'), notably episodes by Robert FrankRobert FrankRobert Frank , born in Zürich, Switzerland, is an important figure in American photography and film. His most notable work, the 1958 photobook titled The Americans, was influential, and earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his fresh and skeptical outsider's view of American...
(New-York)
Stephen Dwoskin
Stephen Dwoskin
Stephen Dwoskin is an accomplished experimental filmmaker. He studied at Parsons School of Design where he was a student of De Kooning* and Josef Albers* and at New York University, receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to move to London in 1964, where is he still based. He was a co-founder of the...
(Londres)
Nick Wapplington (near Newcastle)
Robert Kramer
Robert Kramer
Robert Kramer was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He directed 19 films between 1965 and 1999...
(Berlin)
Gary Hill
Gary Hill
Gary Hill is an American artist who lives and works in Seattle, Washington.One of the pioneers of video art, Gary Hill has exhibited his video and video installations worldwide . He is represented by Donald Young Gallery of Chicago.An anthology on the work of Gary Hill by Robert C...
(U.S.A)
Thierry Kuntzel (Tampico)
Daniele Incalcaterra (Moscou)
Ken Kobland (Dallas)
- 1993 : The Wheel - La Roue - Episodes « Brian Holm » and « Gert Jan Theunisse »
- 1994 : Jogo do BichoJogo do BichoJogo do Bicho is an illegal gambling game in Brazil, prohibited by federal law since 1946. Very popular throughout the country, the "game" is actually a lottery-type drawing operated on a regional basis by mobsters known as contraventores , bicheiros or banqueiros...
- 1996 : BrutBrut-Literature:* Roman de Brut, a verse chronicle in Anglo-Norman by Wace* Layamon's Brut, an English chronicle by Layamon based on Wace* Brut y Tywysogion , a Welsh mediaeval chronicle...
- 1996 : Back to Sarajevo
- 1999 : SombreSombreSombre is a 1998 French film directed by Philippe Grandrieux, starring Marc Barbé and Elina Löwensohn. The film was nominated for the Golden Leopard and won the C.I.C.A.E...
Special (Mention of the Orrizzonti jury, Locarno Film Festival) - 2002 : La vie nouvelle
- 2007 : Putting Holes in HappinessPutting Holes in Happiness"Putting Holes in Happiness" is Marilyn Manson's second single from his sixth studio album Eat Me, Drink Me. Written on his birthday , Marilyn Manson described the song as "a romantic-misogynistic-cannibal-gothic-vampire ballad"...
, video for Marilyn MansonMarilyn MansonMarilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name... - 2007 : MetMet-In the arts:* Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan, New York* Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, New York* Various buildings known as the Metropolitan Opera House* The Metropolitan Ensemble Theater in Kansas City, Missouri-In computing and the Internet:...
, installation - 2007 : Late Season - L'Arrière-Saison, film and installation
- 2007 : GrenobleGrenobleGrenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, installation - 2008 : A Lake-Un Lac (Orrizzonti Price/Special Mention 65th Venice Film Festival)
- 2011 : Masao Adachi. Portrait - First episode of the collection The Beauty May Have Strengthened Our Resoluteness (Nicole Brenez and Philippe Grandrieux dir.)
External links
- Official site
- Interview by Cyril Béghin, Stéphane Delorme and Mathias Lavin
- Adrian Martin
- Interview in English, Rouge
- José Moure
- Zalea TV - Zone Autonome de Libre Expression télévisuelle
- Christa Blümlinger
- Hélène Reymond
- Book about A New Life, éditions Leo Scheer
- Tate Modern
- London Film Festival
- Derek Elley, Variety about A Lake
- A Lake, in Italian
- Mettray