LES HAUTES SOLITUDES
BEST REDISCOVERY OF A FORGOTTEN FILM (ON DVD)
Philippe Garrel was influenced by the New Wave films of Truffaut and Godard, and made his first film in 1964 at age 16. During the past half century, his talents have extended to all aspects of the filmmaking practice, including director, cinematographer, screenwriter, editor, producer and actor. Garrel has created cutting-edge films through combining distinctive visual strategies with the actors’ compelling, stylized performances.
In addition to GME’s previous release of Garrel’s LE REVELATEUR (1968) and LE LIT DE LA VIERGE (1969), we now offer his 1974 experimental narrative silent-film meditation on the image of the fallen 40-year old star of Godard’s BREATHLESS, Jean Seberg.
“In silence and black and white, the focus is on a sole visage, that of a fallen 40-year-old star, Jean Seberg fifteen years after BREATHLESS, struggling with alcohol, fear, loneliness chemical dependence and dementia. In an hour and fifteen minutes consisting almost exclusively of close-ups, an entire lifetime rises to the surface of a face.”
– Les InRocks
Jean Seberg in LES HAUTES SOLITUDES
“The idea was to make a film out of the outtakes of a film that never existed in the first place. So I conceived LES HAUTES SOLITUDES as outtakes, a very raw texture on her face. Her agent, her friends, everybody thought I wasn’t serious in my endeavour. I arrived every day at Seberg’s apartment with my camera and filmed her on the balcony, close to the window, for hours, with no role and no script. No-one thought that it was a real film, but she was very independent and didn’t care about this. I consider LES HAUTES SOLITUDES as much a Seberg film as mine.”
– Philippe Garrel
Laurent Terzieff in LES HAUTES SOLITUDES
“For all their superficial similarities, Garrel’s underground films are the opposite of Warhol’s in several key ways. Most evidently, Warhol’s cool distance and authorial strategy of absence couldn’t be more different from Garrel’s anguished involvement in his films, especially the essentially non-narrative works of the ‘70s where the director’s gaze and its relationship with its subject often becomes the centre of drama. Warhol prophetically worked towards a system of casually disposable imagery and celebrity."
– Maximilian Le Cain, “Cinema Reborn”
No. 25 on the list of the 100 most beautiful French films of all time.
– Les InRocks Magazine
Contents
Format: DVD-PAL / Region 0
(No Regional Code); DSL/Downloadable 1080p .mp4 file on server
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LES HAUTES SOLITUDES
(France, 1974)
Director: Philippe Garrel
With: Jean Seberg, Tina Aumont, Nico, Laurent Terzieff
• 82 minutes
• 35mm
• B&W
• Silent
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Total Running Time: 01:22:00
Booklet Text: Maximilian Le Cain & Ben Sachs (English & French)
Published By: Re:Voir Video
Institutional Price: $250 (plus shipping), Digital File Download $500
To order call: 212.280.8654 or click here for information on ordering by fax, e-mail or post.