Romain Gary’s cinephilia. Interview with Jean François Hangouët

Abstract

There is abundant evidence of Romain Gary’s spontaneous and erudite love of the cinema, and of the respect he had for those in the profession. In his fiction, he quotes scenes and songs from films, evokes the interpellative power of cinema, and summons up the figures of actors. In his articles and interviews, he recalls how cinema helped him to better understand literature, comments on great popular films, and discusses the art and techniques of the seventh art. Behind the scenes, he defends Rivette’s La Religieuse against censorship, the psychological intimacy of actors against the intrusive dogmas of the Actors Studio, and the memory of Marilyn Monroe against certain projects of American publishers. Like a fish in water, he rubbed shoulders with actors, directors and scriptwriters. He was invited to many premieres and took part in numerous film festival juries (Cannes, Avoriaz, Berlin). He made cameos, wrote screenplays, directed two films... Summoning this evidence here - particularly from the archives - allows Jean-François Hangouët to characterise Romain Gary’s relationship with the works, techniques, men and women of the cinema with the precision of a scholar; to understand above all how such cinephilia is first and foremost a cultural, aesthetic and ethical sharing, in other words a truly creative act.