Film info

Numéro zéro

BAFICI 2009
dates & times 
Info
Year:

1971
Original Title:

Numéro zéro
País:

Francia 
Director:

Jean Eustache

Color:

Color
Format:

35 mm
Duration:

110 min
Cast:
  • Boris Eustache, Jean Eustache, Odette Robert
Production:
  • GUIÓN: Jean Eustache
  • FOTOGRAFÍA: Philippe Théaudière, Adolfo Arrieta
  • MONTAJE: Jean Eustache
  • PRODUCCIÓN: Jean Eustache

Synopsis

n 1971, following an unstoppable urge, Eustache filmed his grandmother, Odette Robert, for two hours. He did it on 16mm film stock, with two cameras that alternated in order to continuously follow the old lady’s account of a family story that talks about the origins of Eustache himself, the recognition of their affiliation. The film remained unedited, until in 1980 the footage was recovered by French television and edited, in a 54-minute version, with the title Odette Robert for the series “Grand-mères”. Another twenty years had to pass so the original footage could be recovered, and for Numéro Zéro to resurface as a film ahead of its time, the most direct precedent to many documentaries shot on video with long takes (for example, Wang Bing’s He Fengming). Everything was already there: the family story and the homage to the grandmother-mother, but, above all, a fragment encapsulated in time, that of 1971 France, which is also of a period when Eustache wanted to shoot at all costs, a time of waiting that explains why, in these cases, the best alternative is always the closest one.

JP