Shown at Nelson Film Society Sept. 30th 2010
Nicholas Philibert has a unique gift. He seems always to say to the audience,” There is something mysterious behind the curtain – shall we have a look?”
This is a film about a re-union of himself with the actors who took part in a film of which he was assistant director 30 years earlier. It’s also a homage to the director of that film and the power of the cinema to enrich people’s lives. On paper scenes from the film would appear very boring: a group of people meeting again after many years and saying hello; a meeting in which women are discussing catering; a family teasing their father about appearing in the film years ago. However Nicholas Philibert could film paint drying but with a cut to the painter and a taster of his life we would be charmed into believing that everything that happens is of interest and there are no boring events and no boring people on this earth.
Of course this is a film by that Nicholas Philibert! The director of that amazing tour of the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg; the surreal and unforgettable refurbishment of the Natural History Museum; behind the scenes at the Louvre and a year in the life of a rural French school teacher.
Spalding Gray used to visit towns and do in-depth interviews with local people on the stage. Ordinary people doing ordinary things but guided by Spalding Gray their uniqueness was revealed. The audiences were fascinated.
But back to the film – what were the pigs doing there? One of the actors became a pig farmer and Philibert pursued that connection. However is Nicholas Philibert such an institution that noone can say,” Cut the pigs?”
