The Cinematheque

In Person: Fabrice Aragno

“Galvanizing … Far from being declarative final works, [Scénarios and Phony Wars] seem like Godard’s gift to future audiences and future filmmakers.”

Daniel Kasman, MUBI Notebook

Scénarios
France/​Japan 2024
Jean-Luc Godard
18 min. DCP In French with English subtitles

In French, ​“scénario” is cinema’s name for how it tells stories. This is the title Jean-Luc Godard chose for his final film, which was literally completed the day before his death. Scénarios is twofold: DNA, a biological signature, and MRI, medical imagery and the distress felt by a weakened body. Between these two polarities, which evoke genesis and decline, a person’s story unfolds, one made up of a jumble of notes and images, condensed into 18 minutes. It is a singular yet shared narrative of a life haunted by death, as this film is also a farewell. The second segment ends on a self-portrait of JLG—his last images—sitting on his bed, bare-chested, transcribing a witty apologue of Jean-Paul Sartre. —Official synopsis

“His final love letter to cinema … A valuable and poignant document.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

followed by

Exposé du film annonce du film ​“Scénario”
France/​Japan 2024
Jean-Luc Godard
36 min. DCP In French with English subtitles

In October 2021, Jean-Luc Godard presented his idea for Scénario, a six-chapter feature film combining still and moving images, halfway between reading and seeing. —Official synopsis

“Watching this and Scénarios, you can’t but walk away buzzing with the desire to carry Godard’s vision forward.” Daniel Kasman, MUBI Notebook

—intermission—

Quod erat demonstrandum
Switzerland 2012
Fabrice Aragno
26 min. DCP In French with English subtitles

Asked by Swiss television to make a documentary on Godard, Aragno instead enlisted the director to co-author the film with him. The station requested 26 minutes; Godard suggested 26 one-minute sequences, each made up of four shots recycled from his oeuvre.

Fabrice Aragno will introduce both halves of the program and take part in post-screening discussions.