Chronicle of Anna-Magdalena Bach (1968) by Danièle Huillet and Jean Marie Straub.
“There are about thirty shots at most in the movie, in an hour and a half. It’s one of the most beautiful films about music, and the most beautiful directing on music. It’s done with an incredible restraint, very, very simple camera movements, and the director disappears in his subject. What makes for a great director is his ability to disappear, with no conceit, with nothing at all, and to be at one with his approach. It’s a tremendous film. Disappearing, without seeming to, looks simple, and leaves an immense impression. I just went to see the eight hours of Lanzmann’s Shoah at the theater this weekend and it’s the same thing. You get bored because there are slow parts, things like that, but it’s fantastic. You necessarily manufacture boredom when you’re constructing joy; you can’t make a movie that’s constantly at the top. I’ve always gotten bored during the greatest films I’ve seen, but I talk about them with immense joy. Straub’s movie isn’t spectacular, Lanzmann’s isn’t spectacular, but they leave a profound impression, a lasting one that makes you think. It happens with literature as well; you have trouble reading it, but it creates a memory.”

Learn more about Chronicle of Anna-Magdalena Bach.

Read the interview of Bruno Dumont.