How Can I Love / Prénom Carmen

16 October, 2018 - 19:00
Cinematek, Brussels

An initiative of CINEMATEK and Courtisane, in collaboration with Le Service de Culture cinématographique (SCC).

On the occasion of this program, Courtisane, Sabzian and Cinematek have collected a series of writings and interviews in a small-edition publication (French/English).

How Can I Love (A Man When I Know He Don't Want Me)

Anne-Marie Mieville
,
CH, FR
,
1983
,
35mm
,
colour
,
13'

"Before being a short film, this film by Anne-Marie Miéville is first and foremost cinema–and it’s personal cinema. It goes straight to the core, without frills, without any form of self-protection... The film revolves around the godardian scenario par excellence, indeed, that of Carmen: someone loves someone who can’t or doesn’t want to answer this proposal of love. Incidentally, the title comes from Otto Preminger's Carmen Jones. The same origin. But the situation has been reversed; it’s the woman who still loves a man who no longer loves her, and it was filmed rather from the woman's point of view. Which changes everything. "(Alain Bergala)

 

French spoken, English subtitles

Prénom Carmen

Jean-Luc Godard
,
FR
,
1983
,
35mm
,
colour
,
84'

A liberal adaptation – initiated and scripted by Anne-Marie Miéville – of the myth of Carmen, in which the lovers hum the tunes of Bizet against the backdrop of Beethoven's quartets. An opera about desires and tribulations, with bodies that attract and repel each other and a mischievous Godard playing Buster Keaton.

"If several directors have already made films called 'Carmen', it might be because Carmen is a great female myth that only exists through music. And if the era demanded that media, television and film seize this myth, it might be because it’s in the air. But what’s in the air? Maybe it's Carmen... But maybe it's also the last fight of women against men – or the first? "(JLG)

Screenplay by Anne-Marie Miéville & Jean-Luc Godard.

 

French spoken, Dutch subtitles