The Luminous "The Things of Life" Graces Claude Sautet Retrospective

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 07 August 2012 03:28

Written by Jack Angstreich

The late Claude Sautet was an accomplished director who emerged alongside the celebrated French nouvelle vague -- new wave -- in the late'60s, early '70s. His auteurist credentials received an implicit endorsement in François Truffaut's favorable review of Vincent, François, Paul and the others. Truffaut was one of the most exacting critics who had written for Cahiers du cinèma — but he also used Sautet as a script-doctor on his own films.

The long overdue retrospective of Sautet's work -- titled Claude Sautet: The Things of Life -- at the Film Society of Lincoln Center (running from August 1st - 9th, 2012), affords audiences an exciting opportunity to re-evaluate the impressive achievements of a director who, at the very least, was an exquisite craftsman until his death in Paris on July 22nd, 2000, at the age of 76.

From 1970, The Things of Life/Les choses de la vie inaugurated many of the director's most enduring and significant collaborations -- most of which are included in this series. It was sensitively scripted by Jean-Loup Dabadie, beautifully photographed in color by the distinguished cinematographer Jean Boffety and brilliantly scored by Philippe Sarde — his first feature — all of whom went on to work with Sautet multiple times.

The film also greatly benefits from a strong cast. In it star two of the French cinema's most extraordinary talents, both of whom were leads in several subsequent Sautet works: Michel Piccoli, one of the subtlest of French actors, and the lovely, understatedly glamorous, Romy Schneider. The attractive Lea Massari, who is something of a legend in her own right, is also memorable in a supporting role.

Most notable for an intricate editing style which recalls similar, contemporaneous approaches in films by Alain Resnais, Nicholas Roeg, and Richard Lester, The Things of Life tells of Pierre (Piccoli) a successful highway builder who ends up in a deadly auto crash. Seriously hurt, he lies there waiting for the ambulance and possibly death, while the film recalls his past in flashbacks -- reviewing his loves and relationships.

This associative construction is complemented by an intelligent deployment of telephoto that serves as a vehicle for the subjective examination of the narrative concept. Although this is is a moving and worthwhile work, I have reservations about whether it ultimately transcends a certain insubstantiality as envisioned here — Sautet was to attain even greater depths in later films.

The print of The Things of Life being screened is an old one — a French import — with good color, although not without disappointingly considerable dirt and some wear.

Claude Sautet: The Things of Life
August 1st - 9th, 2012

Film Society of Lincoln Center
Walter Reade Theatre
165 West 65th Street
New York, NY  10023

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