Francofonia

"Without me, there was nothing here", says Napoleon somewhere halfway through Francofonia to Marianne, the French symbol for freedom and reason. And of course he meant the art treasures in the Louvre, which is the backdrop throughout the film for reflections about the relationship between art and power. Against the background of the exciting plot that was conceived during the occupation of Paris in the Second World War by Count Wolff Metternich and director Jacques Jaujard in order to safeguard the heritage in the museum, Alexander Sokurov takes us along in a detective essay about the history of the museum and the museology. He doesn’t only wonder what art is, but also uses a variety of photos, paintings and archive images to illustrate his story about both men and in doing so he gets artistry on his side. Challenging and humorous key film in the Critics’ Choice programme Whose Cinema.
Film introduced by a video essay by Jan Pieter Ekker and Dana Linssen.