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7. The Metamorphoses
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189 Selected Moments This closing chapter focuses on the Gallimard books and ECM CDs of Histoire(s) du cinéma, and on their relationship with the source videos . These two versions of the series, which have attracted little critical attention to date, are considered here through reference to Godard ’s prior work as a graphic and sound artist. As we have already noted, in the context of the organic nature of Godard’s multifaceted œuvre, and given the principle of metamorphosis that runs through it, Moments choisis des Histoire(s) du cinéma and Voyage(s) en utopie can also be thought of as further variations on the series. To do justice to Godard’s exhibition would require a separate study, so we shall set it aside here. We begin, however, with a brief discussion of Moments choisis des Histoire(s) du cinéma before turning in greater detail to the books and CDs. The rationale behind the making of the abbreviated 35 mm version of the series appear to have been relatively straightforward: financial considerations; a homecoming, in the sense of a reentry into the space of projection, the cinema theater; and, as Nicole Brenez has suggested, the return of selected fragments of the series to 35 mm film following their passage through video.1 The difference in look and feel between the imagery of Moments choisis des Histoire(s) du cinémaandthatofthe DVD versionof Histoire(s) du cinéma is noticeable straight away, and will only increase over time as the prints of the former acquire the familiar signs of wear and tear associatedwithcelluloid. AsJean-Louis Leutrat has observed, in the distilled 35 mm version of selected “moments” from the videos, Godard has cut much of the comparatively conventional expository material used in 1A and 1B The Metamorphoses 7 J e a n -L u c G o d a r d, C i n e m a H i s t o r i a n 190 Room 1 (Today) in Voyage(s) en utopie (2006). Photo: M. Witt. T h e M e ta m o r p h o s e s 191 relating to the foundation of Hollywood, and foregrounded instead the mythical dimension of the genealogy of cinema.2 He has also rightly notedthatthereorderingofmaterialinMoments choisis des Histoire(s) du cinéma includes a significant reduction in the prominence of the Orphic narrative, a change that is in line with Godard ’s retreat from his initial investment in the idea of cinema as Orpheus, discussed in chapter 4.3 Finally, although there are few major textual changes, the synoptic 35 mm version allowed Godard to incorporate one or two significant additional elements,including an extract froma text about cameras written by James Agee (joint dedicatee of 3A), which he has long admired (he had previously cited it in the pressbook for Sauve qui peut [la vie], and in For ever Mozart), and which he had recorded for use in the series but did not use.4 Glue and Scissors Let us begin with the books of Histoire(s) du cinéma, which we shall situate within the context of Godard’s earlier output as a graphic artist and in relation to his longstanding critique of the conventional illustrative use of film stills and other images by critics and historians in cinema-related magazines and books. He has long argued that in such publications, the image is virtually always redundant, the choice of imagery arbitrary, and its use banal: “[F]ilm criticism is done by literary people; criticizing a film involves writing ‘this is good,’ ‘so-and-so acts well,’ ‘so-and-so acts badly,’ ‘extraordinary spectacle, beautiful colors,’ things like that; and then they put a photo so that the reader of the journalcanbecertainthatthisisindeedthefilm under discussion.”5 As he put it in 1979in a letter to the editors of Cahiers du cinéma, in a critique oftheir“Photospecial”editionofthemagazine: “[P]eopleonlyneedaphototouseasadepositor alibifortheirpage of writing.”6 Theresultofthis bias toward writing, he has consistently argued, is that the critical, revelatory, and communicative potential of the imagery is undervalued, if not neglected altogether: I’m always surprised by the way photos are arranged and laid out in film history books. The photos are generally used as illustrations of theses already articulated in the text. A photo of Griffith is put next to the page on which Griffith is talked about, which is a bit simplistic, and we don’t learn much. The author may well have seen...