Chronique d'un été (1961)

Original title

Chronique d'un été (Paris 1960)

Directed by

Edgar Morin, Jean Rouch

Genre

documentary film

Country

France

Runtime

1h 30m

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 116 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This French documentary from 1961 follows a group of Parisians over the summer of 1960. The filmmakers ask people about their personal lives, work, and feelings about happiness, leading to spontaneous conversations.

observationalreflectiveintimateconversationalthoughtfulgroundedunscriptedcontemplative

What happens

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. 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. In a 2014 Sight & Sound poll, film critics voted Chronicle of a Summer the sixth-best documentary film of all time. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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