ALAIN ROBBE-GRILLET (I)

ALAIN ROBBE-GRILLET

French Writer and Filmmaker

Born in Brest (France) 18th of Agust 1922 died in Caen 18th of February 2008

Filmography

1963

L'immortelle

Cast:Francoise Brion,Jacques Doniol-Valcroze,Guido Celano,Catherine Robbe-Grillet

1966

Trans-Europe-Express

Cast: Jean Louis Trintignant, Marie France Pisier, Nadine Verdier,Alain Robbe-Grillet,Catherine Robbe-Grillet

1968

L'homme qui ment

Cast: Jean Louis Trintignant,Ivan Mistrik,Zuzana Kocurikova,Caterine Robbe-Grillet

1970

L'eden et aprés

Cast: Catherine Jourdan,Lorraine Rainer,Silvain Corthay,Catherine Robbe-Grillet

1971

N a pris les dès

Cast: Catherine Jourdan,Lorraine Rainer,Silvain Corthay,Catherine Robbe-Grillet

1974

Glissements progressifs du plaisir

Cast:Anicée Alvina, Olga George-Picot,Jean Louis Trintignant, Michael Londsale,Isabelle Huppert, Alain et Catherine Robbe Grillet

1975

Le jeu avec le feu

Jean Louis Trintignant, Philippe Noiret,Anicée Alvina, Sylvia Krystel, Agostina Belli, Ingrid Caven, Francis Girod.

1983

La belle captive

Cast: Daniel Mesguisch,Cyrielle Clair,Daniel Emilfork,Arielle Dombasle

1995

Le bruit qui rend fou (The blue villa)

Cast:Fred Ward,Arielle Dombasle,Charles Tordjman 

2006

C'est gradiva qui vous appelle

Cast:James Wilby,Arielle Dombasle,Dany Verissimo-Petit 

Alain Robbe-Grillet, The Art of Fiction No. 91 from Paris Review

Interviewed by Shusha Guppy

INTERVIEWER

Readers began to come with the success of Last Year at Marienbad, didn’t they? Did Alain Resnais ask you to write the script for his film, or did you intend to enter the film world anyway?

ROBBE-GRILLET

It was Resnais’s producer. After Jealousy I wrote The Labyrinth, which sold a few more copies. Resnais’s producer asked me to write a script for him. Resnais himself wanted to make a film with Françoise Sagan, so he was not interested, but the producer said perhaps I could persuade him. I immediately wrote three synopses, two pages each, and handed them over to Resnais. He liked them and said, “go ahead.” It didn’t cost him anything since the producer had agreed to pay me without any commitment on Resnais’s part. I produced not a scenario but a finished script: shot by shot, frame by frame, with all the camera movements, and ready to shoot. It is rare that a director would accept such a script, but Resnais did, and the film was done in two months.

INTERVIEWER

Was Marienbad your first attempt at scriptwriting?

ROBBE-GRILLET

No. The Immortal One was my first script. In 1960, a producer asked me if I wanted to make a film of my own. I said, “Yes, but I don’t have a large readership as a writer.” He said, “Never mind—you are fashionable.” The only condition was that the film be shot in Istanbul. “Why?” I asked. It was a dark story—as it always is in the film industry—about some Belgian money locked up in Turkey to be used on an exportable product. It so happened that I had met Catherine in Istanbul; therefore the city was part of my own imaginary world. I accepted immediately and left for Turkey where I wrote the script. Then came the revolution against Menderes and the country was plunged into bloodshed. As a result the film didn’t happen. When Resnais was shooting Marienbad I went back to Istanbul to negotiate with the new Turkish government. I made The Immortal myself a year later. The joke is that no one wanted to buy Marienbad! The producer decided that the film would never be shown, that it insulted and mocked the public, that it meant nothing. I was in a particularly awkward position, since I was “the bad Alain Robbe-Grillet” who had corrupted “the good Alain Resnais.” So for a year the film lay fallow. By chance, the Venice Film Festival saved it, and the absurd, idiotic film became a roaring success overnight.

INTERVIEWER

But it was for your own film, The Immortal One, that you won the Leduc Prize.

ROBBE-GRILLET

Despite the prize the film had no success at all. But the following film, Trans-Europe Express, did very well, and I could go on making other films, such as The Man Who Lies, and Play With Fire. I am planning another film—I can’t talk about it for superstitious reasons—but I have no trouble finding the money since I can make films very cheaply, with tiny resources.

INTERVIEWER

What do you think of the French New Wave directors? Those who came from Les Cahiers du Cinema and made films at the same time as you did? Did they influence you?

ROBBE-GRILLET

There is one director I admire enormously, and that is Jean-Luc Godard. Apart from his latest film, Hail Mary, all his output is important to me. But the really successful directors, like Truffaut and Chabrol, I consider completely insignificant. They make good traditional films, based on novels that worked very well before they were filmed, but they can’t be compared with the formal inventiveness of Godard. Truffaut is famous as an avant-grade director, while he is the rear, rear guard! As for Eric Rohmer, he is the fellow who writes dialogues and then gets actors to speak them in front of the camera. Often the most successful film of a director is the least interesting: Truffaut’s The Last Metro was a piece of commercial rubbish in all its horror, yet it was a big hit.

INTERVIEWER

What about other great names of the cinema: Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, and so on . . . Who influenced you as a director?

ROBBE-GRILLET

Fritz Lang, Erich von Stroheim, Orson Welles—The Lady of Shanghai more than Citizen Kane. Bergman doesn’t interest me at all.

                                 

"J’aime la vie je n’aime pas la mort,

Amo la vita non amo la morte

I love life I don’t love death

Pourtant j’aime assez ce qui demeure immobile

Quindi amo quello che resta immobile

That’s why I love  what is stationary

J’aime les chats je n’aime pas les chiens

Mi piacciono i gatti non amo i cani

I love cats I don’t like dogs

J’aime l’impression d’éternité, les vieilles demeures de Provence au décor immuable

Mi piace l’idea di eternità, le vecchie dimore della Provenza dall’aspetto immutabile

I love the idea of eternity, the old steady Provence Adobes

Les lourds velours rouges passés depuis toujours

I pesanti velluti rossi sorpassati da sempre

The heavy red old fashioned velvets

La mousse dans les allées

La vegetazione di  sottobosco nei sentieri

The moss on the paths

Les carpes entre deux eaux dans les bassins

Le carpe a mezz’acqua negli stagni

The mid water carps in the ponds

Je n’aime pas le téléphone

Non amo il telefono

I don’t like phones

Je n’aime pas la voiture

Non mi piacciono le macchine

I don’t like cars.

J’aime les longs voyages en chemin de fer

Amo i lunghi viaggi in treno

I love long distance train travels

Paris-Bucarest New York -Los Angeles Istanbul- Téhéran Moscow-Khabarovsk

J’aime aussi marcher dans les rues ou à travers la campagne.

Mi piace molto camminare per le strade o attraverso la campagna

I love to walk in the streets or through the countryside

J’aime les Automnes humides et doux les feuilles brunes luisantes de pluie

Mi piacciono gli autunni umidi e dolci, le foglie brune luccicanti di pioggia

I love humid and sweet autumns, the brown leafs shining under the rain

Un épais tapis spongieux sur le chemin

Uno spesso tappeto spugnoso sul cammino

A thick spongy carpet under my feet

Je n’aime pas le bruit, Je n’aime pas l’agitation, J’aime les belles voix, Je déteste les cris

Non mi piace il rumore,non mi piace l’agitazione , amo le belle voci detesto i gridi

I don’t like noise, I don’t like agitation, I like nice voices I hate shouts

J’aime le foules joyeuses, Je n’aime pas ce qui plait aux foules

Mi piacciono le folle gioiose , non mi piace quello che piace alle folle

I love joyful crowd, I don’t like what crowds normally love

Je ne fais pas confiance au masses populaires

Non credo alle masse popolari

I don’t trust popular masses

J’aime les jours ou je me sent plus intelligent plus instruit plus aigu

Mi piacciono i giorni in cui mi sento piu intelligente piu istruito piu acuto

I love the days I feel more intelligent  more educated more acute

J’aime apprendre, j’aime enseigner

Mi piace imparare e amo insegnare

I like to learn and I like to teach

Je n’aime pas faire une conférence après un bon repas

Non mi piace fare una conferenza dopo un buon pasto

I don’t like to give a lecture after a good meal

J’aime bien les petites filles surtout si elles sont jolies

Mi piacciono le ragazzine sopratutto se carine

I like little girls especially when they’re nice

Je n’aime pas trop les petits garçons

Non mi piacciono troppo i ragazzini

I don’t like little boys

J’aime le jolie je n’aime pas la mode du laid

Amo il bello non mi piace la moda del laido

I love the beauty I don’t like filthy fashion

J’aime dire ce que je pense surtout si cela ne ce dit pas

Amo dire quello che penso sopratutto se non viene detto

I like to say what I think especially when it’s unsaid

J’aime connaitre la règle je n’aime pas la respecter

Mi piace conoscere la regola ma non amo rispettarla

I like to know the rule but I don’t like to respect it

J’aime connaitre les théories littéraires ou scientifiques

Mi piace conoscere le teorie letterarie o scientifiche

I like to know literary or scientific theories

J’aime la liberté, je n’aime pas le gaspillage

Amo la libertà non mi piace lo spreco

I love liberty I don’t like wasting

Je n’aime pas la salade journalistique

Non mi piace l’insalata giornalistica

I don’t like the journalistic salad

J’aime mon papa et ma maman

Amo il mio papà e la mia mamma

I love my father and my mother

Je me méfie des psychanalystes

Non credo agli psicanalisti

I don’t trust psychoanalysts

J’aime bien agacer les gens

Amo irritare gli altri

I like to irritate people

J’aime pas qu’on m’emmerde

Non amo essere annoiato

I don’t like to be pissed off "