François Maspero

An exhausted militant wants to take a break from the incessant frenzy surrounding him. His country’s dictatorship is on its last legs and chaos reigns. His wife Sylvie leaves their country for France. She writes about the new democracy struggling to be born back home. His daughter Joyce must hide out in the deserted childhood home in the solitude and infinity of the Black Beach. Several adversaries – the militia of a hazy regime in his native land and the Paris police – wage a strange game of chess in which he is the pawn. Threats abound and he’s haunted by his past, his fears, dead friends. He has three allies: his wife, his daughter, and an old girlfriend from his fighting days.

The man is seated in the compartment. Alone, he speaks to Lise through his memory. He goes towards the sea. It’s the goal of the travel. There in this big house with a view on the waves, despite Lise not being there, despite her death, he sees her, he is with her.

크리스 마커는 시대의 목격자였을 뿐만 아니라 활발한 영화적 실천가였다. 가능한 모든 형식의 영화를 포함한 사진집, 전시 등 그의 광범위한 활동을 돌아보는 것은 마커의 개인적인 정치와 예술 성향뿐만 아니라 세계사를 짚어 보는 일이다. 프랑스를 넘어 세계 역사에 영향을 끼친 68 혁명을 다룬 붉은 대기는 그의 영화 중 가장 정치적이고 전투적인 영화로 당시 세상의 해결책처럼 등장한 ‘새로운 좌파’의 탄생을 사적 에세이 형태로 보여준다. 특정 이념은 과거에 남아 있지만 당시 폭발하기 시작한 세계를 기록한 다큐멘터리, 이미지의 힘은 사상보다 더 위대함을 보여주는 작품이다.

An affectionate portrait of the left-wing publisher and bookshop owner François Maspero, who was a contributor to Far From Vietnam and would later publish the commentary to Le Fond de l’air est rouge. Maspero is one of the most satisfying and likeable of Marker’s films from this period, achieving an exemplary balance of quirky human warmth with a clear and inventive form of political argument.