Michel Pacalin

On april 24 1982 when Orson Welles was invited to Paris to receive the Légion d'honneur from François Mitterand a lively filmed interview took place in the french Cinémathèque.

Here Duras assumes a more distant role, less an interviewer than an invested documentarian. Her questions precede footage of her main subject, the sixteen-year-old Romain Goupil, recently excluded from the lycée, among his peers and fellow student revolutonaries. After we see them discuss the complexities of their position and deal with internal dissent, Duras asks Romain if he ever forgets how young he is. Romain replies with a grin: “Totally.”