Losey without his mirrors
 

Posted on 15.10.2023

A filmmaker expresses his passion for another filmmaker: Dante Desarthe (Fast, The Wall-Crosser) provides a comprehensive analysis of the work and career of Joseph Losey, from the great period of his English crime thrillers to the “baroque” age of his collaboration with Harold Pinter.

Joseph Losey l'outsider, 2023

Your film begins with some fascinating archival footage...

They’re rushes from an interview with Joseph Losey in 1968 by Bertrand Tavernier and André S. Labarthe for the programme Cinéastes de notre temps. They were never edited, I don't know why, although... In fact, Losey was extremely depressed because he had just had two big failures with Secret Ceremony and Boom!. He had really hoped that these movies would enable him to work again in the United States. He was at rock bottom and if he had agreed to meet them, in my opinion, he was just being polite. Bertrand Tavernier was very young, twenty-seven years old, he hadn't made a film yet, and he asked rather theoretical questions that Losey didn’t know how to answer, because he was more doubtful than certain. He played the game, adopting the position of the seeker instead of  the knowledgeable expert. The interview didn't go very well, but Losey and Tavernier became close, to the extent that the former often took on members of Tavernier's technical teams when he was filming in France. For this reason, I searched for the clip showing Tavernier receiving the César award for Mr. Klein on behalf of Losey, who was absent.

How did these images inspire you?

I love the moments of intimacy that we see and that my editor, Cécile Dubois and I decided to keep: Losey was a heavy drinker and you can hear Tavernier ask, "Anybody got  a Bloody Mary?” It was a great atmosphere! In 1968, Losey was halfway through his career; he had made seventeen films and would go on to make seventeen more, which is a huge achievement for someone who started out at the age of forty. I also found this document of the period interestingly  insightful: Losey plays the musical Hair for his guests, he's tempted to adapt it, we're right at the heart of a moment...

What was your approach?

I had decided to find out more about how the films were made. When it comes to Joseph Losey, we're tempted to explore the biographical thread, because of McCarthyism, his exile, etc., but we know a little less about his technique and the way he worked. I tried to evoke his direction of actors, his taste for sequence shots; choices that no doubt stem from his experience in the theatre. Michel Ciment, who appears in the documentary, allowed me to use audio recordings he had made with Losey, like the one where he explains his direction of The Go-Between. I tried to avoid the cliché of Losey’s famous, ubiquitous use of mirrors, even though I talk about them a little...

One is struck by the power of Joseph Losey's face...

Yes, the sunken, weathered features. Once again, he was a heavy drinker...! To me, he has the face of an Indian chief.

Interview by A. F.

SCREENING

Joseph Losey l’outsider by Dante Desarthe (Documentary, 2023, 1h)
Institut Lumière (Villa) - Sunday, 15 October at 4.45pm
With Dante Desarthe in attendance