Read Instead…in Print

A photo of a good book about cinema. No discursive, pretentious analyses, no verbose scrutiny. Because the idea is to invite you to read the book, not read about it here. But instead of using social media, I use my journal. Back to basics. Take it as a wish to break free of over-reliance on social media (even if it’s just for posting a photo of a good book) for presenting my work, cultural finds and interests. These are things to be enjoyed as stand-alone pieces in a more substantial and meaningful way than showing them in the black hole of Instagram thronged with an audience with a short attention span. This is also a look through my voluminous collection of books about film that I use as research in my adamant decision to rely less and less on the online and more on more on print materials.

Read instead…in print #7.

The year 2021 celebrated the centenary of the birth of Yves Montand with the publishing of the book Yves Montand: La force du destin. The story of Ivo Livi, a poor Italian immigrant who arrived in Marseilles in the early 1920s, and became Yves Montand, one of France’s finest actors and artists. An extraordinary destiny for an extraordinary personality. Whenever the French write a book about cinema, I rejoice, because not only do I know that I am for a valid and passionate opinion, but because they also put great thought into the photos they use in it, which reads like a beautiful visual journey through someone’s filmography. Montand’s voice is heard throughout the book and we also get to hear from many of his friends and colleagues, like Costa-Gavras, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Philippe Labro, Françoise Hardy, Gérard Lanvin, Florence Moncorgé-Gabin, Catherine Deneuve, Alain Corneau. Seeing him through their eyes is sincere without falling into the emotional, resonant without falling into the obtrusive, fascinating without falling into flattery. The feeling you are left with is simply this: “Montand est à nous, à vous,” as film documentarian Yves Jeuland ends his testimonial. “Montand is ours, Montand is yours.” And that’s pretty extraordinary, too.