In July 1984, Varda saw a book named "Living and Man-made" (Le vivant et l.) in a nursing home in Avignon[Expand All]
In July 1984, Varda saw an exhibition named "Living and Artificial" (Le vivant et l'artificiel) in a nursing home in Avignon. In the exhibition hall, artworks coexist in a chaotic manner with animals, artificial hearts and moldy walls. The visual shock left her unable to control herself for a long time, so she decided to lead us back to the perilous place. We saw one house after another, some empty and some full. As time went by, strange traces were left behind. In addition, Varda also met Yolande Moreau, who was about to be the "maid" from "Can't Live Without a Home", and Marthe Jarnias, the "old lady", in this nursing home. Varda said: Under the swaying of the high-speed train, I couldn't help but think about those incongruous images that my spirit was trying to absorb. As soon as I arrived in Paris, I immediately called Louis Bec and Bernard Faivre d'Arcier and asked them to allow me to film this exhibition, not to understand it, but to draw inspiration from it. They agreed. A few days later, we set off to film. In the shaking of the high-speed train back to Avignon, Nurith Aviv asked to see my large notebook to know what he was going to photograph. The notebook paper was still almost blank, and we only saw some titles: The kitchen, the parents' room, meals, the Windows. All the family life was marked, but none was ready. The entire film was shot in an impromptu way, without any marks or context. I merely followed the real beating of my heart that I felt from visiting the scene and the presence of those elderly people who still made me feel warm." A. ? V[Collapse]
