LA RÉVOLUTION N'EST QU'UN DÉBUT. CONTINUONS LE COMBAT (France, 1968, Pierre Clémenti)

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Pierre Clémenti’s LA RÉVOLUTION N'EST QU'UN DÉBUT. CONTINUONS LE COMBAT follows the actor and filmmaker during the May ‘68 protests, which occurred during the making of Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1968 dramatic feature PARTNER in Italy (in which Clémenti starred). The film documents Clémenti’s extensive travels between the demonstrations in Paris and the set of Bertolucci’s film in Rome, thereby capturing his a double life as both activist and artist.

FOOTAGE OF POLICE PRESENCE AT THE MAY ‘68 PROTESTS IN LA RÉVOLUTION.

Footage of a police officer hurling tear gas at protesters in May ’68 appears… an old, hunched woman pulls a cart along the curve of an avenue in black and white, her march rendered Sisyphean by the repetitions of the film; a guillotine drops again and again as the shot repeats; [Clémenti’s son] Balthazar plays endlessly in a field; the shimmering surface of water overlays a cacophony of images. —Julia Curl, Hyperallergic

Intercut with footage of student protests and police presence — which features indelible slogans like “Power to the imagination,” “Theater in the streets,” and “Poetry in the Streets” — are layered images of family (such as his son Balthazar) and friends (including celebrated actor and singer Jean Pierre Kalfon). As a result, LA RÉVOLUTION functions as a filmic family photo album with thematic and stylistic similiarities to a “ciné-tract.” “Ciné-tracts” were a series of short, agitational, and politically-trenchant documentary films made by such notable artists as Jean-Luc Godard, Philippe Garrel, and Jackie Raynal during the May ‘68 protests.

Clémenti’s SON, BALTHAZAR, IN LA RÉVOLUTION.

In LA RÉVOLUTION,  Clémenti elucidated the dualities and dichotomies of his artistic and political lives by experimenting extensively with double and partial exposures. These visual abstractions lend the film a distinctly avant-garde feel. As noted in Hyperallergic:

Time in these works is not linear, as images loop back on themselves and return from one film to the next. Like a sequence of memories or thoughts coming full circle, the films grow tangents that branch into a continuous fabric of life… The neon-colored, shimmering vignette was a particular favorite of his, while a frenetic tempo and near-constant double exposure is so jarring that viewers may occasionally struggle to keep their eyes on the screen.

Jean Pierre Kalfon in LA RÉVOLUTION.

After production on LA RÉVOLUTION wrapped, the celluloid film materials were entrusted to fellow filmmaker and activist Frédéric Pardo for safekeeping.

LA RÉVOLUTION N'EST QU'UN DÉBUT. CONTINUONS LE COMBAT is part of the DSL collection THE PIERRE CLÉMENTI COLLECTION.

LA RÉVOLUTION N'EST QU'UN DÉBUT. CONTINUONS LE COMBAT
(France, 1968)

Director: Pierre Clémenti

  • 22 minutes
  • 16mm
  • Color
  • Silent
Distribution Format/s: DSL/Downloadable 1080p .mp4 file on server

Published By: Balthazar Clémenti

Institutional Price: $250

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