MUSICIAN KILLER
[via Benoit Jacquot & F. Dostoyevsky]
Make this our last meeting-
up.
Seen him. He’s silly.
I’d be grateful if you could convince him.
Concert cancellation:
I don’t want to give it up.
Assure you that I [never] knew that Gilles played violin,
nothing of his talent, and if he’s mad.
Knows what’s got into me.
I’d burn it if I had to go back.
Leave here until you’ve played
live, until you’ve played as you did for Varga.
Even if you offer millions,
risk dying alone, in the street, like a dog.
Barry Alpert / Silver Spring, MD US / 10-10-06 (12:39 PM)
Jacquot’s first feature, adapted from an early novella by
Dostoyevsky (Netochka Nezvanova), and compared to the
work of Bresson & Godard, though the director himself
cites Murnau & Lang. He had been assistant director on
Rivette’s “Celine and Julie Go Boating” shortly before
starting “L’assassin musician”, and he casts Godard’s
leading lady Anna Karina in a major role. Jacques Lacan
was quite fascinated by Jacquot’s film and
apparently wrote an essay on it, though I’ve yet to locate
this piece of writing. Jacquot later directed a documentary
interview with Lacan., which I viewed a number of years ago
with interest but without knowing anything about the director.
The “Musician Killer” convinced me that Jacquot was a distinctive
auteur from the generation following the French New Wave, and
I’ve been able to finish texts begun during each of his films I’ve seen.
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