“105 catches, and the second one was good!” Kubrick drove Barry Lyndon’s composer crazy

Stanley Kubrick, who disappeared at the age of 70, signed only thirteen feature films during his fifty-year career. From melodrama (Eyes Wide Shut) to science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey) to horror (The Shining), comedy (Doctor Strangelove), war films (Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket) or period (Barry Lyndon), Stanley Kubrick has offered a seventh An undisputed gem of art.

Twenty-four years after his death, it seems that everything has been said about this legendary filmmaker, perhaps one of the only – if not the only – who enjoyed almost complete freedom to devote himself completely to his art.

Suspicious of journalists, preferring to communicate with images rather than words, Kubrick spoke very little in public, which helped to deepen the mystery surrounding him. And mostly feeds on the craziest rumours, the supposed misanthropy of a completely reclusive person.

Gregory Monroe’s wonderful documentary, Kubrick by Kubrick, which just aired on Arte, but is on view through June 11 on arte.tv, is a gem. Reason ? It consists mainly of audio recordings of interviews that the filmmaker gave to Michel Ciment over thirty years.

Author of a reference work on the director published in 1980 and republished several times, film scholar as well as magazine director. positive and reviewer at Mask and feathersHe is one of the few journalists who interviewed him several times and established a very long dialogue.

“My first question will be about interviews” going to lay the cement during the first meeting with the master. “You avoid talking about your films more and more”.

Kubrick’s response is mixed, in his soft voice: “I’ve never found it important, or even possible, to talk about the aesthetics of my own films. I don’t particularly like this film.”

The filmmaker’s brother, Ian Harlan, told us no more when we had the privilege of going to an extraordinary exhibition dedicated to Kubrick at the Cinematheque in 2011.

“I wanted to throw Stanley out the window!”

Kubrick, who saw himself as Napoleon at the head of his armies during the production of the films, was known, among other things, for his absolute perfectionism. Obsessed. There is no shortage of anecdotes about these actors or actresses who broke up after dozens of takes, such as Shelley Duvall. shinesOr Ryan O’Neal Barry Lyndon.

In addition to this film, the documentary includes a testimony from composer Leonard Rosenman, who delivers a fascinating anecdote about being a filmmaker in the most literal sense of the term:

“I believe it was on stage with a horde of soldiers from the Irish Army. We used authentic instruments. Authentic flutes found in museums, authentic drums, etc.

We did 105 takes and the second one was perfect. The musicians looked at me, I looked at them, as if we were dealing with a madman. 105 catches, get it?

I finished throwing the rod, I grabbed his neck. I wanted to throw it out the window. Everyone started laughing nervously. Stanley said, “You’re crazy!” I said, “You’re driving us all crazy, that’s the problem!”

A sharp analysis of our society

If his English mansion Childwickbury became the nerve center of his world, Kubrick was not cut off from the rest of the world. On the contrary, he was perfectly aware of his gait, his drifts and violent upheavals.

Speaking to Ciment in the wake of the 1971 release of his shock film A Clockwork Orange, which ran in Britain for two years before being pulled from cinemas at Kubrick’s express request (and would not be released until after his death). Provides a frighteningly clear picture of the acute relevance of violence in our society.

“One of the most perplexing social questions these days is, ‘How do you maintain authority without repression?'” There is a growing sense among young people that politics and legal means are too slow and useless to change society, and authority, on the other hand. Threatened by terrorism and a growing sense of anarchism.

The question arises: “How to find, if it is still possible, a balance?” The answer is not a very utopian optimistic vision of destroying authority to put it to good use. Nor is it to say that power must be imposed by force. This is a dilemma.”

Kubrick by Kubrick, to see on arte.tv Until June 11, 2023.