Artaud

Synopsis

A 2-disc homage to the enigmatic poet, actor, director, playwright, philosopher, visionary, madman Antonin Artaud - one of the most influential figures of 20th century art, theatre and cinema. MY LIFE AND TIMES WITH ANTONIN ARTAUD is a dramatisation of Artaud’s later years based on the diaries of Jacques Prevel, and THE TRUE STORY OF ARTAUD THE MOMO is a documentary tribute to him by his friends and colleagues.
DVD extras include JACQUES PREVEL, DE COLERE ET DE HAINE, a documentary by Gérard Mordillat and Jérôme Prieur. This is an intimate portrait of the poet Jacques Prevel, a very close disciple of Artaud, based on the accounts of those close to him; booklet including interview with the directors and profiles of the participants.

Language

French (Standard)

Country

France

Year of release

2007

Year of production

1993

Subjects

Drama; French studies; Literature

Keywords

biographies; French culture; poetry; theatre; Artaud, Antonin; Prevel, Jacques

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 0

Price

£29.99

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

93 minutes

Year

2007

Sections

Title

My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud

Synopsis

A dramatisation based on the diaries of Jacques Prevel. Set in the bohemian Paris of 1946, the film follows Antonin Artaud, the actor, writer, and founder of the infamous Theatre of Cruelty. Newly released from a mental institution, Artaud, who is dying painfully of cancer, befriends Jacques Prevel, a young poet who wrote to him during Artaud’s confinement. Penniless, self-absorbed, and sexually involved with two women, Prevel provides Artaud with pain-killing drugs, for which the legendary artist favours him with money, encouragement, and his most desperate insights into the horror of living. Tyrannical, generous, maddeningly oblique, terribly vulnerable, Artaud in his final days becomes a figure lost in a forest of misery, comforted only--so this story tells us--by Prevel’s words. Shot in black and white and directed by Gérard Mordillat, the film is a haunting evocation of post-war moral exhaustion among artists set against renewed urban energy, the French equivalent of America’s nascent Beat movement.

Duration

94 mins

Title

True Story of Artaud the Momo

Synopsis

While researching Artaud’s life for their feature-length film MY LIFE AND TIMES WITH ANTONIN ARTAUD (based on Jacques Prevel’s memoirs), co-directors-writers Mordillat and Prieur thought it would be a good idea to make a documentary about Artaud’s last years, which were marked by madness, insufferable misery and excruciating pain.

Despite rich archival footage - recitation of Artaud’s poems, display of his drawings, photos of his intellectual circle, and interviews with some of his friends - the documentary is only partially successful as it lacks analytical focus as well as interesting structure. For the most part, it’s a talking-heads documentary in whcih Artaud’s friend and colleagues talk to camera and share their reminiscences.

Duration

170 mins

Production Company

Name

Arte/La Sept

Distributor

Name

Quantum Leap

Notes

The company ceased trading in 2018. It was previously a distributor and online retailer specialising in non-fiction DVD titles on a wide variety of subjects, particularly in the areas of music instruction, music performance, sport instruction, and health. Some titles also available through retail outlets.

 

Available from retail outlets