Philippe Garrell

Philippe Garrel was born in Boulogne-Billancourt in 1948. A cinematic Rimbaud, he made his first short, Les Enfants désaccordés in 1964 at the age of 16 and quickly stood out for his radical approach: in 1968, he sued French television for refusing to air Anémone, a film about a teenage girl that it had commissioned. That same year he filmed the student-worker uprising on 35mm. Jean-Luc Godard called it "the best film about May '68," though all trace of it has vanished. From La Concentration (1968) to Bleu des origines (1979), Garrel pursued a loner's itinerary signposted by 12 "film experiments," (several starring the singer Nico). Rejecting the conventions of "communication" (as Jean-Michel Frodon put it), Garrel spoke to the senses and deleted all social references as well as narrative benchmarks. Garrel emerged from his underground period with L'Enfant secret (1983), in which he successfully employed autobiographical elements to maintain a permanent tension between the real and the fictional. Operating a "return to the narrative" (Frodon), Garrel related his own personal relationship in this transitional work. He carried on in this vein with the magnificent Liberté, la nuit (1984) in which he cast his own father, actor Maurice Garrel. Elle a passé tant d'heures sous les sunlights (1985), dedicated to director Jean Eustache, charted the "point at which the cinema takes its sustenance so that films can exist." Les Baisers de secours (1989) inaugurated a new period. With the benefit of hindsight, Garrel described the complex rapport between his private life and his films - in J'entends plus la guitare, which won the Gold Lion at Venice in 1991, La Naissance de l'amour (1993), and now, Coeur fantôme (1992). Garrel was a member of the jury at the 45th Locarno Film Festival in 1992.

1964 LES ENFANTS DESACCORDES (cm)
1965 DROIT DE VISITE (cm)
1967 ANEMONE MARIE POUR MEMOIRE
1968 LA CONCENTRATION LE REVELATEUR ACTUA I
1969 LE LIT DE LA VIERGE
1970 LA CICATRICE INTERIEURE
1973 ATHANOR
1974 LES HAUTES SOLITUDES
1975 UN ANGE PASSE LE BERCEAU DE CRISTAL
1976 VOYAGE AU JARDIN DES MORTS
1978 LE BLEU DES ORIGINES
1979 L'ENFANT SECRET
1983 LIBERTE LA NUIT
1984 ELLE A PASSE TANT D'HEURES SOUS LES SUNLIGHTS
1989 LES BAISERS DE SECOURS
1991 J'ENTENDS PLUS LA GUITARE
1993 LA NAISSANCE DE L'AMOUR
1995 COEUR FANTOME

Philippe Garrel
LE COEUR FANTÔME
The Phantom Heart

Philippe Garrel was born in Boulogne-Billancourt in 1948. A cinematic Rimbaud, he made his first short, Les Enfants désaccordés in 1964 at the age of 16 and quickly stood out for his radical approach: in 1968, he sued French television for refusing to air Anémone, a film about a teenage girl that it had commissioned. That same year he filmed the student-worker uprising on 35mm. Jean-Luc Godard called it "the best film about May '68," though all trace of it has vanished. From La Concentration (1968) to Bleu des origines (1979), Garrel pursued a loner's itinerary signposted by 12 "film experiments," (several starring the singer Nico). Rejecting the conventions of "communication" (as Jean-Michel Frodon put it), Garrel spoke to the senses and deleted all social references as well as narrative benchmarks. Garrel emerged from his underground period with L'Enfant secret (1983), in which he successfully employed autobiographical elements to maintain a permanent tension between the real and the fictional. Operating a "return to the narrative" (Frodon), Garrel related his own personal relationship in this transitional work. He carried on in this vein with the magnificent Liberté, la nuit (1984) in which he cast his own father, actor Maurice Garrel. Elle a passé tant d'heures sous les sunlights (1985), dedicated to director Jean Eustache, charted the "point at which the cinema takes its sustenance so that films can exist." Les Baisers de secours (1989) inaugurated a new period. With the benefit of hindsight, Garrel described the complex rapport between his private life and his films - in J'entends plus la guitare, which won the Gold Lion at Venice in 1991, La Naissance de l'amour (1993), and now, Coeur fantôme (1992). Garrel was a member of the jury at the 45th Locarno Film Festival in 1992.

1964 LES ENFANTS DESACCORDES (cm)
1965 DROIT DE VISITE (cm)
1967 ANEMONE MARIE POUR MEMOIRE
1968 LA CONCENTRATION LE REVELATEUR ACTUA I
1969 LE LIT DE LA VIERGE
1970 LA CICATRICE INTERIEURE
1973 ATHANOR
1974 LES HAUTES SOLITUDES
1975 UN ANGE PASSE LE BERCEAU DE CRISTAL
1976 VOYAGE AU JARDIN DES MORTS
1978 LE BLEU DES ORIGINES
1979 L'ENFANT SECRET
1983 LIBERTE LA NUIT
1984 ELLE A PASSE TANT D'HEURES SOUS LES SUNLIGHTS
1989 LES BAISERS DE SECOURS
1991 J'ENTENDS PLUS LA GUITARE
1993 LA NAISSANCE DE L'AMOUR
1995 COEUR FANTOME