Jean-Paul Toraille

In the summer of 1986, Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub were working in the park of an old Sicilian mansion and in a clearing at the foot of Mount Etna shooting Der Tod des Empedokles. Assistant cameraman Jean-Paul Toraille toyed around, so to speak, with his first video camera, filming the daily work on the set. Now, 24 years later, he was joined by Jean-Marie Straub in editing the material into a film. Anyone who expected the shooting of Les Avatars de la mort d’Empédocle to be an austere affair, an exercise entirely devoid of humour or a Straubian tour de force is proven wrong: so much lightness, joy, concentration, spells of waiting for the sun to come out – and even proper slapstick in between – is hard to find.

In the summer of 1986, Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub were working in the park of an old Sicilian mansion and in a clearing at the foot of Mount Etna shooting Der Tod des Empedokles. Assistant cameraman Jean-Paul Toraille toyed around, so to speak, with his first video camera, filming the daily work on the set. Now, 24 years later, he was joined by Jean-Marie Straub in editing the material into a film. Anyone who expected the shooting of Les Avatars de la mort d’Empédocle to be an austere affair, an exercise entirely devoid of humour or a Straubian tour de force is proven wrong: so much lightness, joy, concentration, spells of waiting for the sun to come out – and even proper slapstick in between – is hard to find.

In the summer of 1986, Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub were working in the park of an old Sicilian mansion and in a clearing at the foot of Mount Etna shooting Der Tod des Empedokles. Assistant cameraman Jean-Paul Toraille toyed around, so to speak, with his first video camera, filming the daily work on the set. Now, 24 years later, he was joined by Jean-Marie Straub in editing the material into a film. Anyone who expected the shooting of Les Avatars de la mort d’Empédocle to be an austere affair, an exercise entirely devoid of humour or a Straubian tour de force is proven wrong: so much lightness, joy, concentration, spells of waiting for the sun to come out – and even proper slapstick in between – is hard to find.

In the summer of 1986, Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub were working in the park of an old Sicilian mansion and in a clearing at the foot of Mount Etna shooting Der Tod des Empedokles. Assistant cameraman Jean-Paul Toraille toyed around, so to speak, with his first video camera, filming the daily work on the set. Now, 24 years later, he was joined by Jean-Marie Straub in editing the material into a film. Anyone who expected the shooting of Les Avatars de la mort d’Empédocle to be an austere affair, an exercise entirely devoid of humour or a Straubian tour de force is proven wrong: so much lightness, joy, concentration, spells of waiting for the sun to come out – and even proper slapstick in between – is hard to find.

In the summer of 1986, Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub were working in the park of an old Sicilian mansion and in a clearing at the foot of Mount Etna shooting Der Tod des Empedokles. Assistant cameraman Jean-Paul Toraille toyed around, so to speak, with his first video camera, filming the daily work on the set. Now, 24 years later, he was joined by Jean-Marie Straub in editing the material into a film. Anyone who expected the shooting of Les Avatars de la mort d’Empédocle to be an austere affair, an exercise entirely devoid of humour or a Straubian tour de force is proven wrong: so much lightness, joy, concentration, spells of waiting for the sun to come out – and even proper slapstick in between – is hard to find.

Jean-Marie Straub's first film after the death of Danièlle Huillet is a love poem to her. Le Genou d'Artémide is based on Cesare Pavese's "Dialogues of Leuco", which had already been adapted by Straub et Huillet as Ces Rencontres Avec Eux (2006).

In Italy, immediately subsequent to the war, a group of people who lost all they possessed during the conflict, settle in a village in ruins. They intend to restore the city from the rubble and re-start life, in imitation of the women of Messina who rebuilt their city, destroyed as it was by an earthquake. Oscillating between respect and suspicion, co-existence between group members is tense. Things become complicated when an envoy from the government arrives to say that nothing there belongs to them. The film is a free adaptation of fragments of the novella ‘The Women of Messina’, by Sicilian writer Elio Vittorini.

En la Italia de la inmediata posguerra, un grupo de gente que ha perdido todo lo que poseía durante el conflicto, sobrevive en un pueblo en ruinas. Tratan de levantar la ciudad de las ruinas y reiniciar su vida, a imitación de las mujeres de Messina que reconstruyeron la ciudad, devastada por un terremoto. Oscilando entre el respeto y la sospecha, la coexistencia entre los miembros del grupo es tensa. Las cosas se complican cuando un eviado del gobierno llega para decirles que nada de lo que tienen les pertenece. La película es una libre adaptación de fragmentos de la novela Las mujeres de Messina, del escritor siciliano Elio Vitorini.

A group of men and women have been brought together after World War II, when Italy regained its national and territorial unity. They make up a primitive community which seeks to erase not only the distress created by the war but also the hardships of life, and look to protect themselves from violence, misery and fear. Amid the ruins of this post-war period, these men and women build a new rapport between themselves, between sexes, between generations, between social and geographical origins, between political camps.

Émile Vieuzac vive con su madre en una gran casa de campo. Cuando ella muere repentinamente, él invita a todos sus parientes a acudir al funeral. Son los tiempos de la revuelta estudiantil de mayo del 68. (FILMAFFINITY)

Una excéntrica familia de Kansas es atrapada en su casa rural durante una espeluznante tormenta.

La obra inacabada del poeta romántico alemán Friedrich Hölderlin "Empedokles" cuenta la historia del filósofo griego y su exilio y muerte arrojándose a un volcán en activo. Huillet y Straub trasladan la acción a la Sicilia rural, colocando a sus actores frente a un entorno exuberante. Filmada casi exclusivamente en planos fijos, la película enfatiza la belleza de los versos de Hölderlin. (FILMAFFINITY)

Au revoir les enfants cuenta una historia desgarradora de amistad y pérdida devastadora de dos niños que viven en la Francia ocupada por los nazis. En un internado católico provincial, los jóvenes precoces disfrutan de una verdadera camaradería, hasta que se revela un secreto. Basada en eventos de la propia infancia del escritor y director Malle, la película es una historia sutil, observada con precisión, de coraje, cobardía y trágico despertar.

Nina, joven de provincias que descubre la capital, conoce gente por casualidad y realiza su aprendizaje del teatro y el amor. Paulot en primer lugar, la tranquilizadora figura de un hombre corriente, sólida como una roca. Luego Quentin, un actor caído atormentado por un drama pasado, violento como un rayo. Finalmente, Scrutzler, un director inflexible y exhausto que elige a Nina, la arroja al escenario. Una revelación nace a través de estos tres encuentros. Pero es consigo misma que Nina tiene una cita.

Louise, una mujer joven e inquieta, siente la necesidad de tener un espacio propio al margen de su posesivo novio. Para ello, alquila un pequeño apartamento en París. Convencida de que todavía no está preparada para la vida de pareja, Louise se embarca en una serie de relaciones superficiales, sólo para descubrir que uno no sabe lo que tiene hasta que lo ha perdido. Cuarta entrega de la serie "Comedias y proverbios".

The time is the 1930s and two Soviet spies (both Frenchmen by nationality) have been helping Communist factions during the Civil War in Spain. It is the time of Stalin's iron rule in the USSR, and the two agents are suddenly called to Moscow by the KGB. Knowing that they are in trouble for no fault of their own, fear drives one of them to suicide while the other gets his lover and her child and begins a run for his life, knowing that the KGB will never let him go free.