Arnauld Desplechin (La vie des morts, France 1991)

This screening affords a rare opportunity to see the key work of an important filmmaking career and the inception of a major talent. In his first film, little-seen in the U.S., Desplechin begins his revelatory investigation into the web of relationships that comprise the modern family. Here, the MacGillis clan is convening after the suicide attempt of an adoptive brother. Tensions arise when a cousin named Bob (Emmanuel Salinger) inappropriately brings his girlfriend, and when others discover that elder brother Christian (Thibault de Montalembert) and his sister Pascale (Marianne Denicourt) have concealed a previous suicide attempt by the same man. As the younger folks flirt, fight, and fret, the parents worry that they have failed miserably in their jobs. As with all Desplechin films, though, there is great humor and warmth amid the grim themes. Pot is smoked, practical jokes are played, and the potential for new life plays against the possibility of imminent death. Prefiguring the wider-ranging familial representations of A Christmas Tale and Kings and Queen, Life of the Dead distills this remarkable filmmaker’s interests and passions into a concise and perfectly configured scenario.

Written by Arnaud Desplechin. Photographed by Eric Gautier. With Thibault de Montalembert, Suzel Goffre, André Cellier, Elisabeth Maby, Suzanne Waters (54 min. Motion Media, print courtesy Why Not Productions).

October 10, 5:15 pm, Landmark's Clay Theatre