On the topic of Paul Schrader’s interview about Jean Renoir…
I can see quite clearly why this particular interview would be given to us for reflection in this class, as it quite literally seems to cover not just the ‘spirit’ of our studio, but also many of the smaller, more specific topics we’ve covered through the semester. It frankly kind of overwhelming just how many quotes and passages there are to respond to in this one interview, even without me being at all familiar with the work of Jean Renoir, or even that of Paul Schrader, outside of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull of course. With that in mind, I’ll do my best to respond to the parts I found most insightful.
“…to see what images can do as opposed to what performances can do, how a camera moves is also a performance. Directors who are part of the cast in their mentality are often not part of the camera crew.”
I find this quote extremely significant – as it sort of highlights my own aspirations as a film practitioner. Obviously as someone who has spent quite a lot of time for the past few years working inside of the camera and lighting departments, I have a bit of a tendency to fixate on the visual aspect of films. For this reason a big part of this studio, together with some of the independent listening, reading and viewing I’ve done outside of class this year, has really led me to grow a big appreciation for performance and the way in which this informs the camera. It’s for this reason that I immensely appreciate films like Arrival or Portrait of Lady on Fire – because the visuals, the story and the performance seem to be so wholly integrated with one another, in a sort of harmonious union. It’s because of films like this that I’ve found myself thinking a lot less about how graphically impressive shots and cinematography can be, and more about how they work to enhance the film as a whole. A quote like this one really just puts that in words for me – the camera needs to be treated with the same reverence as performance, but never to the detriment of the story. My preferred approach to film is essentially what Schrader is getting at here – a director who is in equal parts interested in all of their film’s departments, and works as though they are a part of all of them, not just delegating tasks out to others.
“Directors are able to do a lot more with the camera these days with a lot less experience. Directors such as Renoir and Welles were out there imagining things they had no proof would work other than in their mind’s eye.”
This quote really highlights a frustration I have with a lot of modern films (particularly blockbusters) – which is this idea that moving the camera somehow makes a film more ‘interesting’. In my opinion the inverse is true – moving the camera just for visual interest, I find extremely distracting and heavily withdraws from my ability to invest in a film. The other thing Schrader touches on here is the issue of knowing whether non standard coverage is even going to make sense when you put it together. To the point that this very issue is something I’ve been looking at for my research project – particularly in regards to the non-standard framing and coverage of Mr Robot.
“With Renoir, you feel that the director wants you to be here, now. That it only appears random, and in fact you are in the hands of a very stern moral tour guide with an overall plan that he is allowing you to find out about as it goes along.”
This quote alone is enough to peak my interest in Renoir as a filmmaker – to the point that I think I will now go and seek out some of his films. I love the way Schrader describes the sort of coverage that Renoir was supposedly employing – one where you’re not shooting for coverage, but in a way sort of editing on set and shooting only what you need. This again circles back around to a lot of the research I’ve been doing for my assignment – particularly in regards to the approach Roger Deakins has had with a lot of the films he has worked on. This sort of filmmaking is one which I really aspire to – one where there is a single camera, methodically planned out and executed in service of the story and performance. For all these reasons I’m genuinely quite excited to get my hands on some Renoir films after having read this interview.