Chronicle of a Summer

Chronicle of a Summer
Chronicle of a Summer
	Chronique d'un été
Directed by	Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin
Produced by	Anatole Dauman
Narrated by	Jean Rouch
Cinematography	Michel Brault; Raoul Coutard; Roger Morillière; Jean-Jacques Tarbès
Edited by	Néna Baratier; Françoise Collin; Jean Ravel
Music by	Pierre Barbaud
Release date	October 1961; (France)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	France
Language	French

Chronicle of a Summer (French original title: Chronique d'un été) is a 1961 French documentary film shot during the summer of 1960 by sociologist Edgar Morin and anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch, with the technical and aesthetic collaboration of Québécois director-cameraman Michel Brault.

The film is widely regarded as structurally innovative and an example of cinéma vérité and direct cinema. The term "cinéma vérité" was suggested by the film's publicist and coined by Rouch, highlighting a connection between film and its context, otherwise referred to as reflexive documentary.^[1] Brault confirmed this in an interview after a 2011 screening of Chronique d'un été at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.

The film was screened at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize.^[2] In a 2014 Sight & Sound poll, film critics voted Chronicle of a Summer the sixth-best documentary film of all time.^[3]

Synopsis

The film begins with Rouch and Morin discussing whether it is possible to act sincerely on camera. A cast of real-life individuals are then introduced and led by the filmmakers to discuss topics related to French society and working-class happiness. At the movie's end, the filmmakers show their subjects the footage and have them discuss the level of reality that they thought the movie achieved.

Production

Chronicle of a Summer was filmed in Paris and Saint-Tropez, France. Rouch used synchronized sound, using a 16 mm camera connected through pilottone with a prototype of Nagra III, a transistorized tape recorder with electronic speed control developed by Stefan Kudelski.

Cast

All cast members appear as themselves.

Jean Rouch
Edgar Morin
Marceline Loridan-Ivens
Marilù Parolini (as Mary Lou)
Angelo
Jean-Pierre Sergent
Jean (worker)
Nadine Ballot (student)
Régis Debray (student)
Céline (student)
Jean-Marc (student)
Landry (student)
Raymond (student)
Jacques (office workers)
Simone (office workers)
Henri (artist)
Madi (artist)
Catherine (artist)
Sophie (One cover girl)
Véro (young girl, uncredited)
Maxie (Jacques' wife, uncredited)
Jacques Rivette (cameo, scene deleted)

References

^ Nichols, Bill (2017). Introduction to Documentary, Third Edition (3 ed.). Indiana University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt2005t6j. ISBN 978-0-253-02634-7. JSTOR j.ctt2005t6j.
^ "14th Cannes Film Festival". fipresci.org. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
^ "Silent film tops documentary poll". BBC News. August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.

External links

Chronicle of a Summer at IMDb
Chronicle of a Summer: Truth and Consequences an essay by Sam Di Iorio at the Criterion Collection
Chronicle of a Summer at AllMovie
Chronicle of a Summer at the TCM Movie Database

This article about a French documentary film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Nichols, Bill (2017). Introduction to Documentary, Third Edition (3 ed.). Indiana University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt2005t6j. ISBN 978-0-253-02634-7. JSTOR j.ctt2005t6j.

[2] "14th Cannes Film Festival". fipresci.org. Retrieved 13 July 2024.

[BBC-doc-3] "Silent film tops documentary poll". BBC News. August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.

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