Paris

A man who wants to make a film hires an actress to help him to find his leading lady in the streets of Paris. Young actors and passers-by around Saint Lazare station confront the man of the image with word and sound.That is all there is to the synopsis of the latest feature by documentary veteran Raymond Depardon. Entirely in compliance with new official guidelines for filming in Paris insisting that a film crew may not comprise more than five persons, Depardon filmed with a small crew the Paris crowds at dawn and dusk: he was behind the camera, flanked by two sound engineers and two actors. Everything was done to ensure that the spontaneous character of the encounters between actors and passers-by were not hindered, resulting in conversations that developed as if there were no witnesses present. Depardon chose to make the film in black & white to prevent colour hindering the geometry of the image. For the sound, they wanted to capture the varied, rich and natural sound of the city as far as possible.In the press information, Cécile Vargaftig says of this Depardon: ‘His most beautiful fiction film is paradoxically enough also the barest.’