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Jul 08, 2009
Huillet-Straub : Lothringen is (no) Lorraine. (7/8)
In separate interviews about the genesis of « Cézanne, dialogue avec Joachim Gasquet » and then « Lothringen ! », a 1994 film, Straub repeats nearly exactly the same story ; it has little to do with the lofty « affinités électives » invoked about « En rachâchant ».
About « Cézanne », Straub explains Musée d’Orsay initiated the contacts for the film. He and Danièle Huillet refused as they were already busy on another project, and advised the Museum to ask Rivette, or Godard.
Musée d’Orsay did not give up and returned to harass them until they completed their work in progress and eventually agreed to the film the Museum would later reject.
With respect to « Lothringen ! », Straub similarly tells how he was approached by the German side of Arte, a European TV channel run mostly like a French-German partnership : because he was born in Metz, they wanted him and Danièle Huillet to contribute a film to a « thematic evening » the channel planned about « Lothringen ».
As with « Cézanne, dialogue avec Joachim Gasquet », they first refused, but Arte Germany insisted and guaranteed them utter freedom as to the format and content of the film.
Again, Huillet-Straub ultimately accepted, but Straub warned that their film would be « anti-German », and against the brand of European Union politicians force-fed to reluctant populations.
The « Cézanne » and « Lothringen ! » stories nevertheless ended differently : true to their word, the programmers of Arte Germany accepted the film as it was.
With its background partly explained, « Lothringen ! », like « Cézanne », sounds more appealing, but will require substantial additional research to become fully palatable : « Lothringen ! » is even less self-explanatory than « Cézanne, dialogue with Joachim Gasquet ».
I confess I did not know Lothringen meant « Lorraine » in German. As per Jean-Marie Straub’s and other accounts, Lothringen and Lorraine are nevertheless not one and the same thing.
Lothringen is only a part of what the French call Lorraine : the German -or more accurately « francique »- speaking corridor running from Metz to the Luxembourg border, where most of the region iron ore and coal mines are located.
« Francique » is the generic word for all German dialects derived from the original language of the Franks, while Metz, though in Lothringen and its major city, is by exception a fully French-speaking town.
In typical Huillet-Straub fashion, the film keeps mum about its context -or it would no longer be a context.
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