2018 JB LIFE! Magazine Summer Edition

Jean Douchet, Restless
Child (L’enfant agité)
"Jean Douchet, Restless Child" was the first
documentary movie made by the three
young directors that were spontaneously
invited to JIFF to introduce their film. They
like to tell others about their film, saying,
"People think they are going to watch a About the Movie
boring biography of a film critic… but in
the end, they have fun!"
“Jean Douchet” is a movie they produced
themselves little by little, saving money
In France, cinema critics are important.
Even if you don’t want to become a
for months to be able to spend it on their
movie. It took them four years to complete
cinema critic, you need to learn how to
have a critical look at the movies you
watch. Fabien Hagege, Vincent Hasser, and
it. They did not have a lot of confidence
because they felt they were too young,
but they continued to follow their dream.
Guillaume Namur met in a Parisian suburb
just before they encountered Jean Douchet,
a man that changed their vision of cinema.
They knew very well the life and work of
Jean Douchet and deeply wanted to share
their knowledge about this unique man,
About the Man
The real Jean Douchet belonged to the
this "master," that was already 80 years
old when they first met him. There are
Nouvelle Vague and is one of the only
ones among his friends that was not
no books, and just a few movies about
a man who created a new method to
understand movies through "cinéclubs"
(film clubs), or how to learn
about movies without realizing
you are actually learning.
What is amazing with this
movie, is that even if you
know nothing about
cinema critics, or even
about cinema in general,
you can still enjoy it
by watching a French
man enjoying food,
traveling from city to city, or even to
that interested in making movies, but in
watching, commenting on, and sharing
movies. Today in France, around 15 films
come out everyday, so critics have to write
very short comments in order to be fast,
and critics of the kind of Jean Douchet,
that are very deep, tend to disappear.
How can one show what this man has been
doing? Filming him in a film club didn’t
work out because the charisma of Jean
Douchet and the live interactions between
him and the spectators are hard to show
on the screen. So the directors decided to
give their own perspective, filming their
own discussions with Jean Douchet, to
festivals in Italy, and laughing heartily. see a side of him through Jean Douchet’s
You might just be seduced by his life friends and people who knew him.
philosophy. The hedonist Jean Douchet
said while eating at an Italian restaurant, Their goal was to allow reality to enter
“Pour bien voir, il faut commencer à bien the movie. They didn’t plan every scene of
vivre”. (To watch [movies] well, you have the movie but let the spontaneity of life
to start by living well).
appear. It is a non-traditional movie, very
refreshing and deeply French, too—both
in the music and the method of filming
people talking and debating about their
Alexandra Prévôt is a French ideas. After watching it, surely, you will
children’s books writer and a French want to watch a few Nouvelle Vague
language teacher based in Gunsan. movies and finish by eating a good meal.
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