‘La Rencontre - Alain Cavalier’

Alain Cavalier (b. 1931) has always followed a distinctive path, as he preferred to focus his work on continuous reinvention. Cavalier made his debut at the end of the fifties and produced a series of classic, well-funded feature films starring well-known actors (such as Le Combat dans l'île, 1961, with Romy Schneider and Jean-Louis Trintignant). Over time, he turned his back on film-making, due to a personal crisis and because film-making did not give him the artistic satisfaction he sought. He returned to film-making, however, and directed Le Plein de Super (Fill’er up with Super, 1976), a joyous comedy, which was written and filmed as part of a collective adventure. His next film was named Ce répondeur ne prend pas de message (This Answering Service Takes No Messages, 1979), an unclassifiable film-performance in which he portrayed his anxieties. Thérèse (1986) is dedicated to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as six Césars. Libera Me (1993) is a film without dialogue, in which Cavalier touches upon the theme of suffering and resistance. He then directed La Rencontre (1996), an intimate, fragile and beautiful production about an amorous encounter, that heralded a new era in his work. Thanks to technological advances, Cavalier was able to use smaller video cameras, break away from mainstream cinema and develop his own voice. “Filming should be as natural as breathing.” (Le Monde). To this day the director – who prefers to call himself a ‘filmer’ – continues to work along such lines. 

Some of his recent films, i.e.,  Six Portraits XL (2018), Le Plein de Super (1976) and Ce Répondeur ne prend pas de messages (1979), will be shown at Cinema Nova as of 1 June 2019.