Cinéma vérité

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Cinéma vérité ( French: cinéma-vérité about "truth cinema") describes, on the one hand, a historical epoch of (especially French) documentary film of the 1960s, and on the other hand, a metahistorical approach to documentary filming that has continued to the present day. Characteristics of the historical cinéma vérité are the direct interaction between the filmmaker and the person filmed, thus the importance of cinematic self-reflexivity and the provocation of the subject .

Although the term cinéma vérité was first mentioned by the film historian Georges Sadoul , it only became better known as the subtitle of the documentary Chronique d'un été by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin (1961). This is where documentary approaches from the cinema Pravda Vertov from the 1920s are combined with the ethnological investigations of Jean Rouch. Not least the development of the portable Nagra sound device led to a freer use of the medium of film. Light-sensitive film material, the lack of additional lighting and a small crew also ensured that the documentaries at Cinéma vérité were as close as possible to everyday reality and the 'truth'.

Cinéma vérité and Direct cinema

The cinéma vérité is often equated with the term direct cinemas . In fact, there are some similarities: the lack of an authoritarian voice-over , which just shaped the documentary film of the British Grierson tradition of the 1930s and 1940s; the attempt to let the portrayed people speak for themselves and to free them from the dependence on the filmmaker's interpretation; as well as the refusal to want to interpret social problems in larger ideological contexts, rather to grasp the everyday life, the people and their situations directly.

Nevertheless, there are some very clear differences in the approach: American direct cinema , for example that of the Drew Associates , tries to put the camera and the filmmaker aside as possible so that they do not have too much influence on the events to be portrayed. The camera as the 'fly on the wall' - as an observer as unnoticed as possible - is the ideal here; at best, the camera and cameramen should not influence what is happening at all. The aim is to capture the so-called privileged moments in which the portrayed person forgets the camera and reveals an "underlying truth".

This "underlying truth" is of course also the aim of the French cinéma vérité . However, the strategy is completely different: Here the filmmakers put themselves directly into the action, make themselves visible as such and thus question their own position. Just look once at the sequence in the aforementioned Chronique d'un été , in which the two filmmakers discuss with a potential interviewee in the cozy living room ambience what it would mean to involve them in the film. This moment of "self-reflexivity", which Direct Cinema lacks, is joined by the strategy of "provocation". The aim is not the as uninvolved, silent filming of what is happening, but a direct attack on what has been filmed. The camera is supposed to provoke the desired privileged moments , it is supposed to serve as a psychological stimulant that lures the portrayed individuals from their reserve.

The concept of cinéma vérité , even if to be understood primarily as a historical epoch of documentary film, can, however, also be viewed ahistorically. Bill Nichols ' attempt to classify documentary films offers a suitable approach here: Nichols differentiates between Expository Mode , which addresses the audience in an authoritarian manner with a voice-over , Observational Mode , which, like Direct Cinema , does not interfere as much as possible, and Interactive Fashion , in which the film crew interacts directly with the world under observation, as well as Reflexive Mode , which questions these representations of "objectivity" itself. The Cinéma vérité is clearly part of the interactive mode , because the film crew is not a fly on the wall, but rather the fly in the soup that is directly involved in the action.

Aftermath in documentaries and feature films

The style of Cinéma verite can still be demonstrated in documentaries today. Interaction , self-reflexivity and provocation always play a major role, especially in documentary television formats such as interview films or in the documentation formats of youth broadcasters that require street credibility .

Even feature films have made use of this pattern. One then speaks of mockumentary . The best-known example here is probably The Blair Witch Project ( Eduardo Sánchez & Daniel Myrick 1999).

literature

• Mick Eaton (Ed.): Anthropology - Reality - Cinema. The Films of Jean Rouch. British Film Institute, London 1979, ISBN 0-85170-090-X .
• Louis Marcorelles: Living Cinema. New Directions in Film-Making. Allen & Unwin et al., London 1973, ISBN 0-04-791025-9 .
• Bill Nichols: Representing Reality. Issues and Concepts in Documentary. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN et al. 1991, ISBN 0-253-34060-8 .
• Brian Winston: Claiming the Real. The Griersonian Documentary and its Legitimations. British Film Institute, London 1995, ISBN 0-85170-463-8 .