Original subtitles

My mother goes to school in a Benedictine monastery.

As a farmer's daughter

she isn't supposed to go to university.

In 1958

curious about the new world

she boards the "Vulcania"

with a one-way ticket to New York.

She's only 23.

Less than a year later

she is already married

to a Swiss guy who's in town, too

and who becomes my father.

After their marriage in New York

my parents go to Paris for work.

They used to tell me

that I was conceived

during a screening of "� Bout de Souffle"

in an old cinema in the Latin Quarter.

By the time I get to New York

25 years later

I'm already under the spell of Jean-Luc Godard.

Instead of attending film classes

I borrow a 16mm camera

and film the city.

In the autumn of 2021

I walk from my home in Zurich to Rolle

where Jean-Luc Godard has lived and worked since 1977.

Leave a message, Thomas is not at home

he's going to see God.

He may be back in a couple of weeks.

That's the first thing I read

in the programme of the Lucerne Film Club

as an 18-year-old.

You see, it's 20...

22

I have an idea for justice.

A film roll.

Two kilos.

Departure.

I'm not ready yet.

Something is not perfect with my shoes.

Yeah, the feet.

- I need another... - 20 minutes of preparation, fucking hell!

The director is adjusting his concept.

To see the right story, I want to see, I have to participate.

I can't just give 5 dollars and get...

a huge chunk of fantasy or mystery or something.

I have to work on it.

The best way to answer to this responsibility is to go and make a movie.

So I'm at least sure I will get the right movie for me to see.

If I don't, I will be responsible for it because I've made it.

No, come on.

A little one.

What are you doing?

We're walking to Lake Geneva.

This is the first day.

Well then good luck!

Do you think that this experience will change you?

Do you think you will come back any different to how you set off?

Yeah, I'll come back much less spoiled.

That will be a transformation.

And a bit more fit maybe.

Hello.

We are on a pilgrimage.

I was wondering if there's anyone around who

knows about pilgrimages?

Heavens!

We've never been to Santiago de Compostela.

This is a cloistered monastery!

- Yes, but... - You're a strange one!

We're walking to Lake Geneva.

- And where from? - From Zurich.

We've just begun.

Ooh, the courage. I have no idea about pilgrimages.

Or is there anyone who's into cinema?

- Film? - Yes.

Would you like to watch a film?

No, we're making one.

Go and see, we can wait.

She says we're completely crazy.

- Isn't there anybody? - No ...

We have no idea at all.

I'm so sorry to disappoint you.

I'm not an expert on pilgrimages.

No, but you're an expert on living in a monastery.

It's the same, you're on a pilgrimage to God.

I have to tell you something, if you want to talk

you can't just ring the bell anymore.

You have to make an appointment.

But you can't do that with the right faith.

Everything is organized nowadays.

Today, yes. But we are not from today.

What does that mean?

It's timeless, nobody lives the way you do anymore.

What do you know? I depend on money, too.

I'm at the front here, with a business to run.

Your dick!

Gonna be a great game!

Buy yourself a toupee.

Same size...

When I saw that film in 1997

I went in and for the first 10 minutes I thought

what weird birds they are.

When the film was over and I walked out

I liked every single one of them.

It was mega interesting.

The film never tried to make anyone look stupid.

"The kids of today."

But it didn't try to make them look good either.

In the sense of being better than the older generation.

It lets us decide for ourselves

I really appreciated that.

We're walking to the God of cinema.

You know who that is?

- God...ard - Exactly.

Is he still alive?

Right, he's 91. That's why we're going.

The last chance.

Isn't he the one where everyone said

he invented the jump-cut.

And he replied, I was just too lazy to come up with an idea

I just cut lines out and then it jumped.

- Thank you. - Keep it up!

Don't move or I'll do you in.

Agn�s Varda said

chance was always her best assistant.

They love to attack drones.

Who's attacking drones?

The crows.

- Hello, by the way. - Hi.

- Thomas. - Nice to meet you, Patrick.

Pleased to meet you.

- May I film? - Yes.

We're walking to Lake Geneva.

Ah, okay, good luck.

What's in the evening?

The motorway.

- The motorway? - I film it with stop frame animation.

You just take several pictures in a row.

When you put them together it looks super cool, like a snake on the motorway.

So you use the drone to take single frames?

- It stays steady? - Totally, as you can see.

It is controlled by 22 satellites.

You can see I'm not doing anything.

- How many? - 22 satellites.

Now I've got 21 on GPS.

- Do you have to pay? - You bet I pay!

Michel, can we cut everything on the front cover.

- The city too? - Yes, the city too.

Manu, can we put two parts of the sky together.

We can turn off everything.

"Love, work and cinema

are inseparable."

I make this motto of Godard's my own.

Today I wake up anxious.

I don't know what I'm going to say when we arrive at his door.

I think just knocking spontaneously without giving any notice is best.

If he suspects anything

he won't open the door anyway.

- Rucksack... - and Sancho Panza

Rucksack Aversion Syndrome.

RAS

There is also a rucksack envy syndrome.

When you see someone with a lighter rucksack, RES.

They are both related to basic

rucksack training problems as a small child.

Yeah, no acting! Just lift off.

Go, go.

Slow down!

I want to overtake.

So signal.

No, not so fast.

- What are you saying? - Architecturally...

this is very good, I like the windows.

- Total. - It was an adventure film.

- A diadem of blood. - Total.

- Tender is the Night. - A romantic novel.

If it's already a pain like that

what will be tomorrow?

- We shall see. - We need to do a long rest.

This is wild chat... eh wild track, yes, it is.

Sitting in the forest.

Thomas is feeling old

and nervous.

I overestimated my condition.

I admit...

- Where does it hurt? - I'm older than I think I am.

The blisters here

and the hips.

The rest is fine.

The soul? The spirit?

The spirit is still awake.

As a child

my grandparents are closer to me than my parents

who were always abroad.

So, I show my grandparents my improvised photo-studio

where I practice on myself.

When I have to secure an internship at school

there is only one place I want to be.

"Dear Jean-Luc Godard

I want to look over your shoulder."

That's what I write to him

40 years ago.

This is not work...

it's the application of work, not work.

Where is the work, in your head then?

Work...

I don't know, it's a series of relationships...

You show an image, but there are no images

there are only relationships of images.

To continue making films, if I could choose between

being blind

or having my hands cut off, I would choose to be blind.

Come on.

Can you hear this?

Second day, it's not last day.

Can we walk, please.

The day of reckoning, no?

- You know what a star jump is? - No.

You make a star as you jump. Arms up.

Up, up!

But up, not like...

A star, like up.

Big, yes...

the wide angle.

So, tell me how it feels on the hips. Keep going.

You need to be there.

Directing whilst exercising, whilst complaining!

It's multitasking.

So describe what is happening... Now the light is shit.

Here.

Your arms hurt?

- Here. - Too many symptoms.

I wait forever for a reply to my letter.

And then, having no other choice

I end up doing my internship

in a centre for Vietnamese refugees.

The "boat people" as they are called at the time.

I discover that the world is bigger than my own little country

and that the centre is run by Trotskyists.

This is a good opportunity

because the first thing I want to do

is make a political documentary

before I even know how to make a film.

So, I start to explore the refugee centre

with my photo camera

and capture the truth of the moment.

My new friends put me in contact

with a Trotskyist commune

in the Basque Country.

I grab a Super-8 camera and get on the train.

When you make a film, this is how things happen.

Each time an image replaces the other.

Each new image chases away the previous one.

But the previous one remains in your mind.

Gladys, the girl who gets shot.

Gladys' friends together, the Guardia Civil very near.

The killer has finished his dirty deed.

The friends of Gladys cry.

Innocent blood on the street of Tudela.

LKI, Revolutionary Communist League

section of the 4th International in the Spanish State.

Regarding Basque autonomy, we are of the opinion

that an oppressed people like Euskadi

must have the right to decide its own future

the right to decide if it wants to be independent

if it wants to remain united to the Spanish State.

By the end of the summer

I film inside the protests

while the demonstrators protect me

so that the Guardia Civil

can't confiscate my footage.

1, 2, 3, 4 ...

Change legs.

Feet parallel.

Weight forward.

Heel up ...

and down.

And hold it.

And relax.

You got it?

And put your toes up.

That's better, but tell me before.

Good.

Why do you wear a mask?

Because I don't wanna be infected.

Be grateful.

Be grateful you can do that.

Say hello!

How often do you have to do that, every day or every week?

Now it was really bad, but usually once a week.

- Bad why? - Weekend vandals.

Lake Geneva! Okay, you still have some way to go.

Hey guys.

I ain't interested in names.

Why is that?

Look.

No names, no lines. No lines. No story.

Names are important for people.

Who are they?

Yeah.

The way the chairs are placed here

they are all facing the same space and direction.

And the voice is going all over that space

because it's projected all over.

Push reality

out.

- Anyway, we have to stop the experiment. - Oh no, why that?

Something is missing.

Or someone.

After my first documentary experiences

in the Basque Country

I try out all kinds of fictional genres.

Cell 84, next garage on the right.

All right, we gonna do it.

If you don't like the sea

you don't like the mountains

if you don't like the city

Then go fuck yourself.

Little girls hitchhiking.

I would like to say something.

I've learned that there is something even more difficult than loving.

It's not telling the woman you love that you love her.

That's even more difficult.

After some teenage short films

I make a 5-minute experiment

featuring my best friend

running.

It's the first film that I think is good enough

to send to the Solothurn Film Festival.

Two months later

while I'm doing my military service

my mother writes to tell me the news.

My film has been rejected.

This first disappointment certainly marks me

but it doesn't kill my desire.

I write another letter to Godard

but this time, I don't send it.

Cinema is about people investing money and ideas, their hearts.

Actors invest their bodies in any case. Their hearts sometimes as well but then...

We rarely see many technicians investing in the production, excuse me.

We have rarely seen many technicians inventing material.

It wasn't a sound engineer who invented the Nagra.

It wasn't you who invented the Arriflex.

You don't even know who invented the Arriflex and why.

You want me to tell you, it was Hitler who invented the Arriflex

to be able to follow the armies quickly.

Without asking?

Only the bike.

- Chapter eight. - A season in hell.

- Chapter eight. - We crossed France.

- Like shadows. - Like mirrors.

That's the Eiger, M�nch and Jungfrau, OK.

Eiger, the very dark side and Jungfrau the broad one.

All right.

On the Jungfrau you can even see the station today.

- On the summit? - Yes, I saw it for the first time today.

Look there, it's so clear today.

- Bye. - Really good.

- Right. - So really good.

She must have really slammed you.

She's quite right.

I feel sorry for her.

Sorry?

Men like you are always sorry.

And always too late.

What an idiot I'm being. Shit, shit...

Yeah, I blew it.

You know, he is doing a seminar on...

- Hotel management. - No...

- Hospitality. - No, pensions...

In Switzerland there are three systems of...

Can you explain it better?

- You have three pillars of... - Three pillars!

One comes from the government.

- The second one is like if you work... - Employers' pension.

And the third one is like private. You can invest on your own.

But if you're poor, you just get number one.

- And life on one pillar, not such... - It's almost impossible.

But most of these people go outside of Switzerland

and then you have a reallly nice life.

So you take your Swiss pension and live in...

Thailand or... something nice.

Or England, a poor country.

Witches.

Where'd the bitch get that from?

Where'd you get that?

- I heard it on the radio. - All right.

Put lipstick on me

but only if he licks your ass.

And you, Thierry...

you lick her ass

only when the other one sucks you.

And you...

you suck him every time I touch your tits with my foot.

Let's try it.

Okay, the picture's good. Let's work on the sound.

But no, all Swiss shares.

That's better, no?

But yes...

Oh no

don't touch that!

It is not a coincidence

that I hired the same actor for my first fiction film.

She will open her second salon, you know?

That's great, isn't it?

Was it you who bought her the first one?

Because she wanted to earn her own money.

Can you feel it, on the stretch from the back of your knees?

That's when I began to realize

I couldn't continue to develop in Godard's footsteps.

Still, the light and glow of his sun

have stayed with me to this day.

Poetry is resistance above all.

Ossip Mandelstam obviously knew that

but it's usual to ignore Russians today.

All this to ask

why there was no resistance cinema in 1940-45

not that there were no resistance films

on the right, on the left, here and there.

But the only film

that resisted occupation by American cinema

with its uniform way of making cinema

was an Italian film.

This is not by chance.

I think his later films are very difficult to watch.

And if a film is difficult to watch...

so difficult to watch...

it's sort of - what's the point?

I don't wanna watch films like that.

I mean...

- "Histoire(s) du cin�ma" ... - Wait, I'm not hearing you.

No, "Histoire(s) du cin�ma"...

It's... First you watch like...

this is gonna be a revelation.

And then it's just a...

torture, no?

Italy was the country that fought the least

that suffered a lot

but betrayed twice

and therefore suffered from not having an identity

and if it found it again with 'Rome Open City'

it's because the film was made by people without uniforms

it's the only time

the Russians made films about martyrs

the Americans made advertising films

the British did what they always do in cinema

nothing

Germany had no cinema

no more cinema

This is a wild track to match iPhone footage looking down

from the heights above Olten.

The production system I said...

and resuming our conversation.

What do you mean the 'production system'?

The way of producing films.

It's all about that.

I don't like being lectured at.

What's exciting about Godard's films is that they are

often full of the unexpected

and particularly the later films become

this relentless hectoring,

and self indulgent.

"Listen to me" and ...

the role of the spectator is as passive as in a...

Hollywood epic.

Think of that typewriter sound, for example.

The incessant rhythmical artillery

of his electric typewriter.

Ok, it's exciting, it reminds you that

everything is a construct.

So I'm sympathetic to the

underlying mission as I see it.

But sometimes when

editing is just punctuation or rhythm

and references are

thrown gratuitously, endlessly

it's just like the ramblings of an old man.

You agree?

- Or have I lost you? - No.

You're just suggesting God is producing pearls all over.

God is not a sucession of masterpieces.

It's just a life that could be improved.

OK, go ahead and complain.

When David accuses me of being presumptuous

and putting myself on Godard's level

he doesn't understand

it's the only way for me to declare my passion.

No, I can't speak English. You're right.

Ah, you want to film me?

- I'm not used to being filmed. - Easy, you can have a smoke.

If you look at what's going on in the world.

What's going on?

Yeah, a lot, you have to decide for yourself ...

What is the most extreme thing that is no longer good for children?

What can I say?

Islamisation.

It's just the complete opposite of our culture.

Like this.

I say what I think, I don't care.

Just the way I see it.

I'm not going to live with anyone again so quickly, know what I mean.

Have you been disappointed?

Everybody has.

- Yeah. - Yeah, everybody gets disappointed in life.

Ah, you wanted to have kids once ... and everything.

If it had come to that, yes.

But it's not an absolute must.

You're recording, I know.

Yeah, how can you tell?

The red light.

Is it on, where?

Ah, sure, you can always tell when it's recording.

You can watch Video right away, it's crazy!

Where is the tape?

Video becomes my film school.

I start recording my own video library

and I'm excited to have my own access to the history of cinema at last.

Here I am testing a VHS camera

for my first serious film.

Can I film you, too?

Now it's lit up.

Why are you laughing?

You have stubble.

Does it show?

People always say - They always say -

They say you need someone to lean on.

I wanted someone to lean with, you understand.

We've never leaned on each other.

We never leaned on each other.

Something seemed to stop us.

Hello Mrs Schaub, this is Imbach from Bern Life Insurance.

Mrs Schaub, we have a new savings plan

and it has the following advantages for you:

You can save on taxes

because there is no withholding tax.

In my living room

I'm making phone calls to finance my next film.

My work is to arrange meetings with an insurance agent.

For each one I get 25 francs.

If I manage 8 per hour, it's serious money.

It only takes 10 minutes

and if you are not interested

the agent leaves again.

This is the film I paid for with those phone calls.

It is also my first step as a producer.

To me, making a film

also means being responsible for the budget.

Corporal ...

get in line.

At ease.

The whole platoon 4 steps back. Now!

10 steps to the left. Now!

Halt!

No need to introduce Marcel Oph�ls and Jean-Luc Godard.

Television like this, you take 10 small cameras

one Samsung, one Sony, one Panasonic.

Each one with different framing.

The notion of framing has completely disappeared.

On my television set I have to have 12 buttons to be able to do wide zoom

14:9, 4:3, 16:9 and so on, so I don't care anymore

it's all gone, it's an era that's gone.

It's a shame that it disappeared.

Cinema was an invention.

Jazz and cinema were the two popular arts of the 20th century.

So I didn't disappear, I continue.

I am the boss

but I am a special boss

because I am the worker, too.

Because I'm not alone as a worker, we've taken

over the others as well.

I'll tell you about them: they are working

and I listen to the noise of the factory.

Sit.

Helmet off.

NO WAR WITHOUT SELF-REPRESENTATION

- What are you doing with me? - Filming you with the flowers.

- What? - With the flowers, is that bad?

I don't know, ask my husband.

I can hose them down right now.

How's life here with the motorway?

Yeah, it takes a bit to get used to.

We've been here for 30 years.

We used to have traffic jams once or twice in summer

when the Germans went on holiday. Now we have jams every day.

I don't know if you can see.

Why is it that on day 5,

after 3.5 kilometers we feel fucked?

We haven't got into our rhythm.

Why?

Because we're resisting.

I don't know, it feels very haphazard

you know arbitrary.

You cannot plan... You want to plan things.

I think that's a cultural thing, and not a personal thing.

Usually in filmmaking

things are set to be planned.

But in this kind of filmmaking, more than 50% is by chance.

It's God's will, not our will.

OK... great.

You cannot control your destiny.

I think complaining is part of the journey.

I'm desperate, but not frustrated.

Can you feel it?

The difference?

Yeah, but part of the difference is

the difference between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

I have a nightmare.

I knock on his door

but I realise

the house is abandoned.

Rested?

Refreshed?

It's a long collaboration between the two of you.

The collaboration with Jean-Luc dates back how many years, Anne-Marie?

It's been twelve years.

So, what's incredible...

Yes, are you sure about the date?

For example, who wrote the script...?

No, it's not like that at all.

I mean when Anne-Marie writes a script, she writes...

or you could say she sometimes writes the neural system

or the skeleton of the script

which gives the idea flesh...

We can only see with such precision if it does not affect perception.

Otherwise, you die. Bach would have died if he had known what he was doing.

I think Marie is coming back too, as Dolto said about Marie...

- that she really is naive... - Yes, she is.

I have to do it once more. Take it out again.

It's a question of will.

That's what he's also saying. He only speaks English.

- Nice to meet you. - Hi.

- Where do you come from? - From London.

- Yeah. - Welcome to Switzerland.

Thank you.

- First time in Solothurn. - First?

Got to start sometime.

Chant and be happy.

"The Power of Mantra Meditation"

- This is for travelers. - Excellent.

One of the most beautiful books from India.

Bhagavad Gita.

And this is an interview with George Harrison from the Beatles.

Morning.

Hare Krishna

Being efficient is not having a plan...

having a schedule in every hour.

Being efficient is...

doing nothing for two hours

but still having in your head our main... the red thread.

What is the red thread in the morning?

- Bakery. - Of course.

But what good does it do your legs?

Day 6. Exercises outside Swisscom.

I've learned from Godard to use the Swiss landscape

like a painter.

Strange

I feel so close to him and yet so far away at the same time.

It's just like with real parents

one day you have to leave them to find your own way.

No, no, nothing so fast, what's this shit?

So impatient.

Duties, my friend.

Ah, Wimbledon in the old days...

It's not so bad now.

These days it's...

- We have to hurry, come on. - Where are your clothes?

- Don't know? - I have them here.

Oh, shit!

I'm the problem because he's the one who screwed up?!

Who does he think he is, telling me I'm not playing Petra?

He knows zero about Petra.

You can't just weasel out by saying "I can't, maybe I'm not an actress."

We're not here as actors, we're here as people.

Bring me the paper. Unlock the car.

You can lower the window, Tiziana, so that you can see me.

So I'll give you a sign to start and go.

- And me too? - Afterwards.

So, watch out, Roland.

Roll camera.

Marker.

They're already dead.

Watch out!

I'm just making soup now.

I could really use some company.

- Hi, I'm Lenz. - I'm Karina.

- You're not Swiss? - But I am.

- But not you. - Not Karina.

- Where are you from, Germany? - No.

Denmark.

Nice country, nice and flat.

I'm Lenz.

And now I sit here, waiting for my wife to come back.

Certainly won't be today.

Natalie and Noah, I hope they'll come back this weekend.

You've only told us about your role.

What about the real person, the man behind Lenz?

It's me. I'm not playing any role.

- You're playing yourself. - I'm filming myself.

I've stopped working with actors. It's pointless.

People like you are much better

- more interesting, more real. - Really?

You don't hide. You always tell the truth.

As we don't know much about the virus

except some scientists

it means that we don't know much about cinema

and I'm still at the beginning.

I spot the 90-year-old Godard during lockdown

on a zoom call with the Kerala Film Festival.

It moves me to see him there so old.

What if Godard dies?

I have to meet him before it's too late.

I can't imagine him not being here.

Velodrome. Hotel Velodrome.

Ah, excellent.

Have you got two single rooms for tonight?

Yes.

With breakfast.

106

Ok, great, thanks.

I didn't understand, say it again.

Before - what did you say? I didn't understand.

'Don't be so...'?

Don't be so dismissive of things you don't know about.

Be more curious.

THE LAMENTATION BEGINS

Are you in pain?

What a miracle it is to be able to give what we don't have.

A miracle of our empty hands.

Sweet Miracle

As an author I'm taking more risks now.

I'm tackling a delicate family secret.

Oh, Adonis, the Michelangelo model.

It's sort of shocking though, no?

Most of us feel like we are the same person.

And if you look at pictures and think who the fuck is that?

When you look at that picture

you feel inside it's the same thing, right?

Ah no...

sure, I was the same person

but I was in a different...

- context. - level.

I mean you feel the journey, no?

Woohoo! I'm coming!

The cans are here, great!

That's enough! As Goethe said before he died!

Death is the path toward the light.

You can snicker, but you know when you are back...

from something like that.

- He's dead! - Not him!

Music, perhaps.

This is the banker I mentioned, Prince.

- How do you do, Madam? - Hello, I'm new to banking.

That's good news.

So your film's for sale?

You said yes!

Yes...

How much?

Ten dollars.

No! A million!

A tragedy on a movie set

a prop gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin discharges

striking the 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

She was airlifted to hospital but later died at the scene.

David still wants to plan our encounters in advance.

"Forget planning - hanging around is creative."

"There is no such thing as wasted time."

That's what I write in our 1995 manifesto 'Short Cuts'

while working with my cinematographer J�rg Hassler.

I suggest David goes back to London.

But he's too proud to give up.

But we realise that the present form of agriculture

very technicised, very intensified

as soon as we come across a climatic incident, like this year

we don't have the means to address it.

Does high technology make us relatively more dependent on climate?

Yes, you should be able to make rain...

What's the difference?

A female farmer has learned to run a farm

while an untrained woman does the woman's part.

- She does more what? - More housework and stuff like that.

But you manage all by yourself?

Yes.

- Without a husband? - Yes, without a husband.

Where is your man?

I don't have a man.

- No man? - No.

- No woman either? - No.

But someone has to help.

Yes, these guys are helping now.

- These are your men? - Not mine, but they help.

- And children? - I don't have any.

- You live alone in the house? - Yes.

Nicole was not the first single-woman farmer I've met.

First there was Heidi who farms nearby.

I wanted to take two of her donkeys on the walk.

Just before the pilgrimage starts

Heidi cancels because it's already winter at her place.

Things never happen as planned.

Exercise 174

proceed with the casting of the roles

start rehearsals

solve the problems of mise en sc�ne

carefully adjusting entrances and exits.

Hello?

Say good night to dad.

Good night!

Daddy?

- Daddy isn't there. - He isn't?

- It's just a tape. - Where?

In Dad's studio.

You can say good night to him.

This is what I'm afraid of, you know

because I can't manage to feel...

Listen Jean-Luc, this handicap of yours

this is maybe what you have to overcome.

- I'd say it's almost a handicap. - But I think...

Yes, but cinema is handicapped

it always walks on three legs.

Chairs have four legs.

No, no, no.

Look at the tripod, it has three legs.

Any three-legged animal would limp.

- Sure... - No, no.

I think you make the whole film first.

You make a film

without cinema.

Then you try to solicit speech.

There's an element of solicitation, certainly.

But not anymore, I think...

I would like you to be able to say...

That's what I don't like

what even frightens me.

This: 'I'd like you to say...'

Now I enter French-speaking Switzerland.

I must prepare myself to greet the master in French.

I'm suddenly nervous.

All my life, he has been a projection.

Now I am about to meet him in the flesh.

'But I didn't know it was you.'

'I thought it was Simon who was here'.

What I would do... No, not you.

I thought it was Simon who was here.

It's the first time I've argued that I love you.

If you think, it's not me, Rachel

me, Simon.

And then you lift her up.

It's not me, Rachel.

Me.

Simon.

OK, let's go.

Yes, my lieutenant.

If there is a war...

We are late.

My God.

World

to the

Research into

What Rousseau calls...

Tiger

Speech

Sound

Caramel

Dagger

Chocolate

Snowman

Loneliness

In 1989, when the Berlin Wall falls

I move into a studio with a group of visual artists.

In 1990

we are invited to visit the Academy of Arts in Dresden.

It is between the fall of former East Germany and reunification.

For the first time, there's no Mayday march

but a boat trip to "Saxony Switzerland".

- Is that a camera? - A gimbal.

Yes, a DJI gimbal.

What's the quality?

4K.

Smashing!

Smashing?

You don't wobble anymore like with your mobile.

With the mobile you have to keep still.

Here I can do what you want.

It doesn't move.

I can hold the camera this way and look over there. Watch!

- See, I go forward with the lens. - Ah, the gimbal.

- The gimbal joins in. - Yes, it does what I tell it to do.

Awesome.

Look, I can turn it. Now it's aimed at us.

Hey you, which way is the west?

Ask the boss.

Hey you, which way is the west?

Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses

who are only waiting to see us act with beauty and courage.

And now

this night

rise to night every night

weak light in the room

from where

mystery

nil from the window

no almost nil

it doesn't exist nil

A NEW WAVE

THE SECRET CHILD

Ah, you shot the birds.

Yes, there are not many.

Ah, how many millimetres is it?

Five hundred.

How do you use it?

With the tripod.

It's heavy.

Very nice.

We're walking to Lake Geneva.

We are on a pilgrimage.

Ah right.

Towards the God of cinema.

Hi.

- Things going well in Vietnam? - Oh, yes.

- You kill a lot of communists. - Oh, yeah.

And you burn down a whole country with napalm, wonderful.

The path is a bit of a mess, but it takes you by the lake.

- That's OK? - Yes.

Who is this for?

It's called L'Ovaille.

It's officially closed here.

- Where do you live? - Near Lake Murten.

Professional fisherman.

- I'm Thomas. - Hi Thomas.

- And you? - Pierre.

Pierre lepecheur.ch

Now it's fashionable to clean the water, no more sewage.

No more phosphates in the water.

You can practically drink the water in the lake.

No more plankton, no more food and no more fish.

Here in Lake Neuch�tel it's a real disaster. There's almost nothing left.

It used to be polluted. Now we've gone from one extreme to the other.

Are fishermen green or not so green?

- The Greens are destroying the fish. - Really?

Always vote green, then soon there won't be a world anymore!

Listen to me, we see the truth that you normals can no longer see.

The human being is characterised by love and trust

courage and generosity, tenderness and sacrifice.

Only your own ignorance and blind progress stand in your way.

In a month...

we'll have a child.

I can't wait.

It will take something else.

You said you could see that I love you.

Oui.

Is that it?

- That? - Yes.

I love you.

"Suddenly a light shone in my heart

warm and gentle as a glowing fire."

If Godard opens his door

I don't want an intellectual conversation.

I dream of something different.

To unpack my Aaton camera and set up a shot

under his direction.

- Cretin! - That's how it is!

Bastard!

Enough is enough.

Feuillade is shown...

you say an old film

you don't say an old book.

If you say an old book, it's just in bad condition

but Don Quixote is not an old book, not even an old novel.

Take a Griffith film or Napoleon by Gance, you call it an old film.

Cinema is mortal and all films are doomed to die.

Who is there?

Ah very well Monsieur.

So how are you today?

Couldn't be better.

You promised me...

I'm sorry if the fever doesn't lift by Friday, we'll kick you out.

OK, this is gonna be wild track to match iPhone footage

bus departing revealing cinema sign in the village of Orbe.

Here you go.

It is long after midnight

when Mary finally lies down on her bed.

She has done everything there is to do in life.

Only a few hours remain

for her soul to receive the hospitality of her weary body.

Elizabeth, my dear cousin

this will be the last of my unsent letters.

Tomorrow there will no longer be two queens in England.

Yet I find I bear you no grudge

rather I am filled with deep compassion.

I know you are as powerless to change your role

as I have been to change mine.

Ah the Mary Stuart movie.

I saw it actually, during the coronavirus, because I had the DVD.

It was good.

We, who are familiar with the region

know the scenes that were filmed here and elsewhere

we can see it right away.

As far as the forest is concerned, I'm talking.

Go ahead, idiot.

Gently.

Gently.

What do you do with the actress who says

"But a woman wouldn't say that"?

Well, now I think maybe if we have a good relationship

maybe a difficult one, but good, maybe I listen a little more

and maybe I think that my lines are not so good.

Let's study it and maybe we'll discover something.

I would like to speak like everyone else

because since the appearances I suffer like everyone else

and even a little more.

- I never had a bad conscience. - Never?

No.

We are on a pilgrimage.

Yes, but without announcing you.

No. -You don't have an appointment, you just show up.

Yes, as visitors.

Even visitors let us know especially in a pandemic.

Do you have your certificates?

- Have you shown your certificates? - Not yet.

Let's start there, then.

We are on a pilgrimage from Zurich to Rolle.

Rolle, that's a good address.

You know the address.

We'll try to accommodate you.

- Ah, that's very kind of you. - Would you like to start with coffee?

- Yes, how nice. - And a glass of water, too.

We'll take it from there.

Out, out with the journalists.

Did you realise that journalist starts with the same letter as justice.

So tell that to your boss.

Arthur declared that it was necessary to wait until nightfall to do the job

and thus respect the tradition of bad B-cops.

"What to do then to kill the time that is dragging on," asked Odile.

Franz had read in France-Soir that an American

had taken 9 min. and 45 sec. to visit the Louvre Museum.

They decided to do better.

this is to say that cinema has never been an art

and even less a technique

since the train arrived at the station

or baby's snack to Rio Bravo

the camera never changed basically

and the Panavision platinum is less advanced

than the Debrie 7 with which Andr� Gide's nephew

- went on a trip to the Congo - phantom Africa.

We are also interested in the promotional material of your films

not only the negatives.

What's the name of the man who collected the posters?

- Andr� Chevalier. - He took this poster.

He's no longer here.

He's retired.

These are images I remember.

At the time of Polac.

Ah, "Droit de r�ponse". You remember at least.

No, because our memory is always a little selective

and Jean-Luc's

is selective, and consciously selective.

But when you came to see me

to say that we could do something together

I don't think it was about being or not being Jewish

it was, I think...

specifically

more about Palestine and Israel.

- Well, yes. - And it is a good idea.

We could still, if we agree on certain things, go ahead with it.

But there is also this difference between us with regard to the term "auteur".

When Fran�ois Truffaut wrote his article "la politique des auteurs".

And the word "politique" disappeared.

"Auteur", fine.

Today I don't believe in so-called authors' rights, in copyright.

If I can take advantage of them, okay

just like I take advantage of other things.

If the term disappears...

I think there's duties rather than rights.

Human rights, too, I don't think there are any human rights.

We don't have the right to eat, we have the duty to eat.

We have the duty to love, the duty to suffer,

we have no rights whatsoever.

Are you a fan of the man from Rolle?

I'm glad someone can appreciate that, every day...

The cinema... how are we going to do it? Jean Luc knows it.

- He knows everything? - Yes.

What do we have to do to make him open the door?

Can you give us some good advice?

Pretend you're not there.

You're a real fan.

I saw you selected 'Sauve qui peut' for #movieofmylife in Locarno.

I chose the same film.

During the screening of that film, my moped was stolen in front of the cinema.

My teenage years were over.

- Let's continue. - Yes.

The man behind it all.

Freddy Buache

He is important.

My dear Freddy

you and me are too old

and the cinema...

will die soon, very young

without having given everything it could have given

so we have to get to the heart of the matter quickly, it's urgent.

We were trying.

The police came to stop us when we were shooting.

We stopped the other day on the side of the motorway,

they told us that it's forbidden, except in case of emergency.

But we told them it was urgent.

There's a light, it's going to last 10 seconds, so it's an emergency.

They ignored it.

It wasn't in the order of things, but the order of things...

Good, stop.

Thank you.

Don't touch the camera department.

Now, I've reached the shores of Lake Geneva.

Drinking from the same waters as he does.

What does it awaken in me?

Maybe we can get a rowing boat.

For our last metres.

I have always preferred the projected oeuvre

not the written page, the projected oeuvre

so that it can be judged

from right to left, in front and behind, projected.

If you tell me, Jean-Luc

you are an asshole, a fascho

it neither warms nor chills me.

If you tell me, Jean-Luc this travelling shot is not good

and you cut it too soon, that touches me.

- Where are we sleeping tonight? - At the Toscanini.

What is your god then?

Our god is nature.

- Nature. - Yes.

And creativity, solidarity between humans.

It's not a god, it's an idea, a philosophy.

A god is inside everyone.

And there are gods and goddesses.

What a question. Of course, it has no sex.

You are god and you are donkey, that's beautiful.

- So, what's your name? - Thomas

- But your last name? - Imbach

Imbach, like the travel agency imbach.ch

- Yes. - Great!

- They were my parents. - Ah, your parents.

I travelled with them once to Calabria.

Werner and Anna Imbach

are always exploring new hiking worlds.

In his fifties my father is already talking about retiring.

He wants to enjoy life and lure me into taking over their travel business.

But he is proud when my first film is released.

Although he receives anonymous hate mail defacing the film reviews.

"This filthy son of a bitch and traitor!

He will cost your company dearly."

"This Thomas Imbach is an asshole

"a dreamer and a weirdo

"without military training

a wimp."

It is the fact of choosing this shot rather than another

it's imposing your vision

- like all filmmakers do. - No, it's the opposite.

- Why? - That's Spielberg.

It's everything except what we've been praising.

- But you made "L'histoire du cin�ma", Mr Godard. - No, it's cinema that has chosen us.

That's very different. It's cinema.

We didn't choose it. It chose us. It was a revelation.

There's nothing religious in it, or like believing in a god.

It's like a moment...

in painting. Picasso used to say

I want to paint until the moment when painting rejects me.

That's how you have to understand it.

We received this address for Jean-Luc Godard.

But I think it's the wrong address.

Yes, it's the right address. But I don't know if he wants to see you.

No? We've been walking since Zurich.

Try it, knock on the white door there.

- Oh, is he in? - Oui.

- Are you the neighbour? - I'm the landlord.

I smell a cigar.

Good morning, Monsieur.

Good morning.

We just walked from Zurich.

- Well done. - Can we say hello?

Well, it's done.

Thank you very much.

We have a little present for you.

- Is that OK? - Thank you very much.

Thanks.

This is for Anne-Marie Mi�ville.

We have some cigars for you

from London.

- Can we leave the cigars with you? - If you like.

Here are the cigars.

Thank you very much.

I'm cold, I'm the one who says I'm cold

but it's not me that you can hear.

I disappeared between these two moments of my speech.

As soon as I said it, there's no more of me left

than the man who is cold

and that man belongs to everyone.

Where do you live, in the language

and I cannot shut up

speaking, I throw myself into this unknown order

foreign, and I suddenly become responsible for it

I have to become universal.

Thank you for the journey.

- Thank you so much. - Danke sch�n.

This is David from London and I'm Thomas from Zurich.

All right, then.

- Have a nice day. - You too.

Now it would be good to have some...

exchange of technical details.

How you do a shot.

How you see the shot and how you do it.

With the iPhone or the 35mm camera.

To exchange a bit, I think this is very special...

not a lot of people can...

can discuss that.

It is a reverie.

I've said that I love.

I've said that I love. That's the promise.

"The solution is to stop making films for imperialism."