A Woman Under the Influence

Ah, I have seen something--but this is something else.

There are so many of these spectres in the history of cinema, and the first encounter is never disappointing. A myth might be difficult to comprehend, even beyond understanding, but it is always invaluable. I hear the name Cassavetes, it is noted, and I wait until somehow I can come to know it. It’s this way or a gift--like Jacques Rivette, like Marcel Carné, like Claire Denis, like Herzog--delivered despite the ignorance of its receiver. A student is very ignorant, this drives him to learn.

Cassavetes has given me a reason to slow down, or, at least, to consider what I am doing in consuming so many films. To watch a film is really a very easy thing. It can also be incredibly hard, but in its pure form it is simply sitting and thinking. The thinking is guided to an extent, (by some directors more than others) so it can sometimes feel like it is only sitting and watching. Well, that is still a worthwhile way to spend time, but it can feel too easy. And maybe it becomes habit, to watch rather than to think, and then a movie becomes a mark in a tally on the blackboard.

A Woman Under the Influence is a film worth more than its length. It is thirteen hours long in two-and-a-half. It is a world richer than the one I’ve made for myself, but it is not an escape. It is a goading thing, a taunt; but not inspirational, only a possibility. As the simplest, easiest, most achievable philosophy, it seems to justify all ways of life. It says ‘everything is fine,’ ‘Tout Va Bien,’ and is not sarcastic, not fatalistic. It is not blind faith. Evil is present, goodness is present. Tender and cruel--like Pierrot, like Prévert.

There are thousands of these things hidden in plain view. You find one. The rest come pouring out of history like spirits from some golden ark, and the destruction they bring is just amazing. Godard wondered if they wouldn’t play Cassavetes at three a.m. on the TV. Why not? The time was there to fill.

It was filled with money. Why not?

So, this is my introduction. There is a riddle to solve. l’Histoire des Treize. A society is hidden someplace, as were the films. But a camera must be earned.