orson welles talks about alain cavalier

SKORECKI TALKS ABOUT PATER:

le film d'alain cavalier n'a qu'un équivalent au cinema: filming othello, un film oublié en forme de testament minuscule bricolé à partir de ses dialogues d'ivrogne shakespearien avec micheál macliammóir(1899-1978), l'un de ses plus anciens amis, celui qui joue iago dans l'othello original ... .... .... ils parlent, ils boivent, ils mangent, ils théorisent ce qui reste de la vie (et du cinéma); pas grand chose, mais ce "quelque chose" est sacrément vivant dans les yeux du vieux welles ... orson welles inventait en direct, sans en avoir l'air, un art absolu de la mise en scène .... une manière de dire en passant, sans insister: regardez le magicien que je suis, le plus fort du vieil hollywood ... .... je met bout à bout deux plans tournés à un an de distance, et vous n'y voyez que du feu ... .... non, ce n'est pas de la magie, j'ai juste fait le raccord sur la bouteille de vin qu'on buvait il y a un an ... ...

il y a dans pater, ce filming lindon rigolo, politique, bavard, gourmand, et surtout dans la dernière séquence, une scène deux fois filmée, la seconde fois en champ contre champ, une rigueur de moine .... l'anti-roi bégue, en somme ...

cette virtuosité modeste, bricolée, est la seule leçon de cinéma qui me fasse venir les larmes aux yeux, car il s'agit d'un art d'usine, celui qui en principe n'existe plus ...
If we do meet again, why we shall smile/If not, why then this parting was well made (brutus à cassius dans jules césar .... )

ORSON WELLES TALKS ABOUT FILMING OTHELLO:

I have done a great deal of that editing, while I am filming. I visualize the editing, while I am filming. When I change that idea, it is a deliberate change. It is a difference that is bigger than I'd like to admit, and I do admit it, because actors teach you so much. The scenery, the smell of a thing, when you come on a set in the morning, whether it's OTHELLO, or a modern story. If you have a master plan for what your going to do, exactly where the camera is going to be, exactly what the scene is supposed to state, if you are locked into that, you are depriving yourself of the divine accidents of moviemaking. Everywhere there are beautiful accidents. The actors say something in a different way than you ever dream it could be said. She looks differently, there's a smell in the air, there's a look that changes the whole resonance of what you expected. Then, there are the true accidents, and my definition of a film director is the man who presides over accidents, but doesn't make them.

I'm going to stop just here, not only because our time is almost up, but because at this point in the discussion, the Boston film buffs veered away from the subject of OTHELLO. If I've evaded any of their questions, or any of yours, it's not by design. Maybe I should have read into the record some of the things the critics have said against OTHELLO. You might have found that informative. I would have found it depressing. I'm very much afraid that under the banner of fair play, and the interest of what's called a balanced judgment, I couldn't have resisted reading you some of the good stuff as well. Anyway it's an argument that still goes on and on. I spared you both sides of it, and I don't know if I was mistaken. Maybe an anthology of critical reviews might have been rewarding, but after all this is supposed to be my voice on the subject, so that's what you've had. I've tried to be as candid as I can. You won't have expected me to be objective. I started by calling this a conversation, but I'm afraid what you've had is mostly a scrambled, disjointed series of notes. I've been coming at our subject from every conceivable direction of the compass, and I might have put a better shape to this if I had relentlessly pursued a single theme, but that would have neglected all the other themes. I just don't know. In trying to say too much, I may have said too little.

othello, pure genius of light and theatre, and love ....

Of course, my film did not do justice to the play. It is my film and it is Shakespeare's play. No film, indeed no stage production could ever do true justice to that play. No actor ever did full justice to the part. I ask myself now, if I've done justice here in my own movie. I don't mean in the value I may sometimes rather coyly have placed upon it. I just mean this discussion. Now, let's try to sum it up. First, how the picture was made. That story you remember. An Italian producer dreaming of Verdi's OTELLO, and neglecting to mention that he was about to go into bankruptcy, stranded our whole company in a small town off the coast of Africa. With a little money of my own, all I had and absolutely no costumes whatsoever, we improvised our way for awhile, then stopped for awhile and I had to go to work as an actor in other films, in order to earn enough to continue with my own. That went on and on, and repeated itself several times, and it meant that OTHELLO was made so to speak, on the installment plan. This and other circumstances did impose a method and style of shooting, which was contrary to what had been carefully planned. For a description of the finished result, I brought you those critical appreciations, that correspond fairly closely to my own ideas. Some thoughts on the interpretation have come from a couple of the leading actors, with some additions of my own. All judgments having been avoided, I leave you with this confession. This hasn't been as easy as I might have wished. Their are too many regrets, there are too many things I wish I could have done over again. If it wasn't a memory, if it was a project for the future, talking about OTHELLO would have been nothing but delight. After all, promises are more fun than explanations. In all my heart, I wish that I wasn't looking back on OTHELLO, but looking forward to it. That OTHELLO would be one hell of a picture. Goodnight.

www.ubu.com/film/welles_oneman.html
(the one man band, un beau documentaire sur les "inédits" de welles, ses farces et ses facéties, avec oja kodar en madame loyal)