Ne change rien
Portugal
2005
12 Min
Black and White
1.33:1
French
Synopsis
In 2005, Costa shot a 12-minute backstage rehearsal with Balibar for a short, then expanded the material for his feature. Shot in high-contrast black-and-white on digital video, Ne Change Rien is a masterwork of chiaroscuro lighting, a study in the void between the visible and invisible: faces and objects, partially illuminated by conic rays and lambent moons from a single light source (a window, a keylight), gleam in the primordial darkness. The footage, captured entirely indoors, often in cramped spaces with low-angle fixed-camera shots, is bathed in nightfall, an immersive technique that makes spatial depth appear chasmic and the sonic textures that emerge from within it hard to resist. To call it a “concert film” is misleading, since the three live performances we do see in their gauzy, dreamlike entirety comprise only a fraction of screen time. The film is instead an homage to the creative process of Balibar and her collaborators and a trancelike experiment in pure-cinema aesthetics. —Reverse Shot
Director
Pedro Costa
Pedro Costa (born 1959) is a Portuguese film director. He is acclaimed for using his ascetic style to depict the marginalised people in desperate living situations. Many of his films are set in a district of Lisbon inhabited by the socially disadvantaged and shot in a natural and low-key way that makes them resemble documentaries. While studying history at University of Lisbon, Costa switched to film courses at School of Theatre and Cinema (Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema). After working as an assistant director to several directors such as Jorge Silva Melo and João Botelho, he made a first feature film O Sangue (The Blood) in 1989. He collected the France Culture Award (Foreign Cineaste of the Year) at 2002 Cannes International Film Festival for directing the film No Quarto da Vanda (In Vanda’s Room). Juventude em Marcha (Youth on the March, known as “Colossal Youth” in Anglophone countries, and “En avant, jeunesse” – “Onward, Youth” – in Francophone countries) was selected for… read more
Wall
Displaying 3 wall posts.
Black Irish
9Nov10
A rehearsal and two performances. The first third like a negative image of a Caravaggio painting, a flourescently bright dressing room. Balibar and two fellow band members practice, leaving open a space open in the foreground, as if to invite us into the privacy of the moment. After this, the first performance. Shot completely as a close-up of Balibar's face, grey and hazy. Costa conjures up a Sternbergian Dietrich with her face and husky vocals. The film ends with an English-language song, but again space is placed between us and the subject. In this instance, however, both it and the sounds are lost in a galaxy of darkness. Reinforced by the individual lights which do not illuminate but rather act as seperate entities in themselves.
Related Films
Fans
Displaying 5 of 21 fans.
Lists
Displaying 5 of 11 lists.
Reviews
No reviews yet — Write the first
Forum
Displaying
0 discussion topics.