presentation

Entirely of black & white archival footage of Jacques Doillon’s feature film Ponette, Playing Ponette shows the painstaking work of a director and his actors, as determined as they are gifted. Without voice-over nor interviews, using only video recordings of some rehearsals and of numerous takes, the editing here highlights bits of conversation that are as many clues with which one can attempt (like an archeologist working with a single piece of antique pottery) to reconstitute the entire work. A film made of fragments - precious, extra-rare in the History of cinema - that addresses certain questions about acting and the relationship between director and actor, in the heat of creation. Some superimposed text composes the sometimes ironic commentary that guides spectators’ gaze and leads them through this four-year old girl’s journey - from a terribly tedious first day of shooting to the prestigious Volpi Prize awarded for Best Actress at the Venice Mostra in 1996.

press

La Presse, samedi 16 février 2008,
«Brillant essai», Anabelle Nicoud

Les Cahiers du cinéma, novembre 2008
«L'école du jeu», Jean-Michel Frodon

Cinébulles vol 26 no 3 été 2008
«Doux plaisir de la découverte»
Nicolas Gendron,