Fils du siècle

A cold house (1920-39); Ten years for rebirth (1939-49); Lautrec or hoping (1950-57); Shared enthusiasm (1957-80); A 20th century gentleman. ‘Five 26-minute episodes which recount the life of one man. Today, he is elderly, which means he was born early this century. Almost like a piece of carbon paper, he bears the traces of his history, as if the story of his life were a reduced model of the history of his époque. He was orphaned by the 1914 war, upheld the republican ideal at the time of the Popular Front, went as forced labour to Germany, then joined the resistance, was a filmmaker during the Neorealism and Nouvelle Vague periods and, later, an active militant for the great collectivist ideas before, during and after May 68… and the list is not exhaustive. The man does not recount his life to a stranger, but to his son, Jean-Louis.’ (Jean-Louis Cros)