An eighty-five year old man, isolated in his luxurious house, tells the story of his economic success and the reasons for his exile in Switzerland. The multiple disputes between him and his acquaintances, and his relations to the place he now inhabits shape his narrative, which unfolds in alternating from one day to another, from one place to the other of his residence.

Emilie Bujes: Our first question naturally concerns your relationship with Jean-Jacques Aumont; I admit I am a little curious to know how you met him, and whether in this context you had worked out some framework or guidelines on how the film would be shot. Another aspect: Aumont also appears in the credits as co-producer, so we were wondering how that came about.

Gaëlle Boucand: I had met him on several occasions, perhaps 3 or 4 times during my teenage years. I began making films while I was studying at Beaux Arts, and I asked him if he would consider letting me make a film portrait of him. At the time he refused as he was far too busy with work. A few years later he contacted me again: he had ceased several of his professional activities and therefore had more time available. So in a certain way, it was rather like a commission even though I had been the one to make the initial approach. We agreed on three days’ filming on his property; it was understood that he would cover the filming costs. Initially, the film was to have been a private commission, but after viewing the first rushes I suggested the possibility of releasing the film for public viewing; he was enthusiastic about the idea and proposed hiring someone to work with me on the montage. When the film was selected at FID (International Film Festival) he also assumed all the post production costs. I think that his role as co-producer is important; it is very significant to see JJA’s name in the credits: it confirms the impression that he was already satisfied with the image that was being projected even during the actual filming.

EM: Of course we cannot avoid the subject of the narration and how it is closely connected with the montage. In fact, on watching the film viewers constantly have the feeling that either Aumont repeats himself incessantly, or that certain scenes have been staged so that the subjects he talks about can be developed further in other places and at other times. Could you also enlarge on this aspect with deeper reflection on the constructive concept, firstly in this documentary, and then in your work in general?

GB: I was already familiar with his tendency to talk constantly about his obsessions. I wanted to maintain the filming behind closed doors or in camera on his estate and by asking him to speak about his life in different areas of his residence I counted on obtaining possible overlapping in his recollections. This system worked and created the basis for the montage which is able to reflect this incessant flow of words. By moving from one room to another, his reminiscing fills the rooms and leads JJA through his property “beyond the limits of time and space”. The suspension of time and space is the title of an article that summarises a semester of study conducted by the Anthropology Department of the Mackenzie University in Sao Paulo focussed on my previous film, Gone to Croatan. So this aspect is common to both documentary films in which the montage reflects the behaviour of the filmed subjects in loop. In Gone to Croatan, the different days and locations are mixed up without any sequential order so that the spectator loses all sense of time and space similar to the sensation of time expansion experienced by the leading characters (the ravers move around for several days and nights without sleeping). In the film we follow the two main characters only during the daytime. As in the film on JJA, the narrative unfolds through their bodies, a common thread or theme that takes the viewer from one day to the next, from one party to another. Rather than following a narrative that develops using the techniques of traditional theatre, the events are repeated endlessly and the spectator experiences a feeling of inebriation. My last film, Mexian, adopts the same leitmotiv: theme repetition and suspension of time and space. Six characters are playing a dice game based on bluff which is transposed into reality when they prepare a never-ending meal in loop.

EM: It is probable that JJA will provoke mixed feelings in those who see the film; on one hand he seems rather lonely and appears to be suffering from a number of incidents of betrayal and disloyalty, but he also embodies a highly controversial figure who has reaped considerable profit from the capitalist system. Given your opinion of Aumont and the impression of him that you wished to project, what image and shooting strategies did you adopt, perhaps even with rhythm, to create a natural distance?

GB: Exactly… as you say I wanted to give an unbiased account of the complexity of this personality. Since the film is a portrait, I had to be very careful not to create a caricature; it could not be overly positive or negative. I set up a filming system for shooting static shots in areas within which he could stroll about without worrying about the camera. I did not want anything that accompanied the image to be too forceful or pronounced; I wanted to avoid close-ups emphasizing significant moments during his reminiscing for example. This decision creates a distance with the subject that is unusual in a documentary film. It enables the director to maintain the same consistent impact in the narration throughout the whole development of the film. Then it is up to the viewer to decide which passages made more impression on him than others. For this aspect the montage was also very important. For example, there were certain passages where we made his paranoia perfectly clear by grouping targeted biographical elements at the end of the film that provide a key to understanding his behaviour. We also backtracked, diluting these biographical elements in other parts of the film to avoid giving the spectator a unilateral point of view of the subject as far as possible.

Credits

JJA, Gaëlle Boucand, 2012, production red shoes l SOME SHOES