“And then there’s
the Roland Barthes of the Fifties. The Barthes of Mythologies, who is writing a lot on the cinema, but from a very
much ideological, and leftist position. Like when he’s writing on Mankiewicz’s Julius Caesar, Kazan’s On the Waterfront, and Visconti’s La Terra Trema. He really attacks Sacha
Guitry. He is actually really opposed to the cinephile discourse of the period.
He violently attacks Claude Chabrol’s Le
beau Serge – the first official film of the French New Wave – in the name
of a leftist position. He accepts a little its naturalism, but not at all its
content and themes, of redemption etc. It’s a Barthes that is different from
what we’ll see later. He isn’t at all synchronous with his times. Oh! But
actually he’s closer to the early Positif,
he would also contribute to Positif
in a question form. He’s of a position that is more on the left for this
period.” – Michel Ciment
Follow the link
for a special episode of Projection privée on Roland Barthes, as well there was
a 'Semaine spéciale Roland Barthes' on Hors-champs that’s well worth checking out.
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