In 1954, hachette published a book of eyewitness accounts of the deportation of the jews. Its archival footage, and above all its voiceover narration written by poet and former deportee jean cayrol, only. Cayrol, helped by another mutual friend chris marker, wrote a commentary spoken in a deliberately matteroffact manner by michel bouquet, and hanns eisler came to paris to compose the music. He was a major contributor to the subversive, philosophical french publication tel quel. Night and fog when the great french director alain resnais accepted producer anatole daumans invitation to make a documentary about the holocaust, he turned to a close friend, the noted poet and publisher jean cayrol, to write the narration that would accompany the.
You can now call 211 in nc to get connected to resources in your community or text covidnc to 898211 to get alerts on nc covid19 updates. Her book provides a much more comprehensive understanding of how this major. Alain resnais waited until he was promised creative control, which included enlisting a survivor of the camps jean cayrol to write the narration. Framed as a documentary, the film is an unsettling view of life inside the nazi concentration camps of world war ii. When it comes to holocaust documentaries, there is simply no further word than alain resnaiss night and fog. Night and fog by alain resnais alain resnais, michel bouquet. Night and fog was passed by the french board of censors, although one or two shots of corpses had to be cut.
Francois truffaut once called night and fog the greatest film ever made. Night and fog was made in collaboration with scriptwriter jean cayrol. Directed by alain resnais from a script by camp survivor jean cayrol who subsequently scripted. Brutally graphic, resnais artistic depiction of life and death in a nazi extermination camp combines ghostly scenes of the abandoned camp in the 1950s with nazi and allied stock footage and stills. Barely 30 minutes in length, the short film comprises a current for 1955 tour of the various concentration camps intercut with archival video from them. It opens on a tranquil green fielda place of great. How he got round it was not to provide text, segment by segment, to alain resnais who would normally have edited the images around it. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Night and fog is just as powerful as shoah in 118 the time. Many of us will have seen film footage of concentration camps before, but night and fog uses voiceover and music to prevent its audience from becoming indifferent to seeing more familiar images. I had heard the phrase night and fog, but had missed the true meaning of it until i saw this movie sitting on a shelf in a local video store.
Jul 28, 2011 many of us will have seen film footage of concentration camps before, but night and fog uses voiceover and music to prevent its audience from becoming indifferent to seeing more familiar images. Jean cayrol responds with a twoleaf typed letter signed. Francois truffaut had high praise for night and fog, describing it as not a documentary, or an indictment, or a poem, but a meditation on the most important phenomenon of the twentieth century. Jean cayrol, french poet, novelist, and essayist, who stood at the frontiers of the. His concept of a concentrationary artthe need for an urgent and constant aesthetic resistance to the. Largely forgotten over the years, the seminal work of french poet, novelist and camp survivor jean cayrol has experienced a revival in the frenchspeaking world since his death in 2005.
Its archival footage, and above all its voiceover narration written by poet and former deportee jean cayrol, only obliquely addressed the mass murder of european jews. So when poet and holocaust survivor jean cayrol agreed to collaborate, production officially began on the most essential and powerful documentary short ever made. In making night and fog director alain resnais and his writer cayrol confronted a problem that is simultaneously aesthetic and moral. Night and fog 1955 when the great french director alain resnais accepted producer anatole daumans invitation to make a documentary about the holocaust, he turned to a close friend, the noted poet and publisher jean cayrol, to write the narration that would accompany the films profoundly troubling images. Resnais and writer cayrol had to fashion a film that ordinary citizens could watch, absorb, and then take away something constructive. There have been numerous books about the making of a film. Written by jean cayrol, a holocaust survivor, and poetically narrated by michel bouquet, its gruesome images seem like a surreal nightmare. Night and fog represents the peak of director alain resnais activities as a shortsubject filmmaker. Night and fog was one of the first films made about the holocaust and remains one of the most important commentaries about this topic.
Japanese authorities, for example, banned it because its many horrific images of victims supposedly contravened article 21 of the japanese constitution. Night and fog is a powerful, personal statement about the banality of evil in our time. Il sagit dorianenbourg, auschwitz, dachau, ravensbruck, belsen, neuengamme, struthof. A film in history university of minnesota press, sorbonne history professor sylvie lindeperg explores the potential of film and all the arts by extension to make visible things that had been unseen. Different cinematic techniques were used to delve into the many layers of this memory. In world war ii cayrol was deported to a concentration camp after participating in the french resistance, and that experience is at. Opening venices giornate degli autori sidebar, cambodian filmmaker rithy panhs graves without a name documents his search for the remains of his family who died during the khmer rouges. Night and fog helped crystalize the public impression of the nazi death industry, which had been left unclear amidst the postwar debris and. James leahy, nuit et brouillard, senses of cinema, may 2003. Jean cayrol, french poet, novelist, and essayist, who stood at the frontiers of the new novel nouveau roman, the avantgarde french novel that emerged in the 1950s. Fontana regional library will be closed for coronavirus prevention starting tues, march 17 through april 30.
After training as a film editor in the mid1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included night and fog 1956, an influential documentary about the nazi concentration camps. Night and fog jean cayrol writer, alain resnais director argos, 1956 32. Nuit et brouillard is a 1956 french documentary short film. Night andfog nuit et brouillard directed by alain resnais, in libraryjournal new york, vol. Representatives of west germany successfully challenged its inclusion at cannes even though it. Jean cayrol is the author of adevarurile catherinei 2. There were three main types of techniques used in resnais night and fog. French poet and camp survivor jean cayrol to bring his lyricism to the project.
The voiceover was written by jean cayrol, an author and french resistance fighter who survived the gusen concentration camp in austria. Instead, cayrol wrote an initial text based on his recollections of resnais first cut. As he would in his later features hiroshima mon amour, last. One of the first cinematic reflections on the horrors of the holocaust and contrasts the stillness of the abandoned camps quiet, empty buildings with haunting wartime footage. Jean cayrol imprisoned at oranienburg purpose for night and fog not memorial to the dead a warning signal. Jean cayrol was a french poet, publisher, and member of the academie goncourt born in bordeaux. Directed by alain resnais and narrated by michel bouquet from a script by jean cayrol, the film alternates meditative presentday incolor shots with horrific wartime blackandwhite footage. Night and fog the current the criterion collection. Mar 15, 2014 so when poet and holocaust survivor jean cayrol agreed to collaborate, production officially began on the most essential and powerful documentary short ever made.
Selected by olga wormser and henri michel, these texts described daily life in. Research archive for the theory and practice of the cine. Night and fog by alain resnais alain resnais, michel. Representatives of west germany successfully challenged its inclusion at cannes even though it was made a full decade after the wars end. Night and fog when the great french director alain resnais accepted producer anatole daumans invitation to make a documentary about the holocaust, he turned to a close friend, the noted poet and publisher jean cayrol, to write the narration that would accompany the films profoundly troubling images. Silvie lindepergs book offers a microstudy of alain resnaiss night and fog. Cayrol would go on to write the screenplay for resnaiss muriel 1963, which was also concerned efforts to fashion and hold on to memories about a disturbing past, in this case the algerian war.
Jun 23, 2003 its a tribute to the clarity and cogency of night and fog that resnais masterpiece has not been diminished by time, or displaced by longer and more ambitious films on the holocaust, such as shoah and schindlers list. Only half an hour long, this is the greatest film ever made about the concentration camps 1956. A chronological narrative is built, from the bustling beginnings of the nazi war machine in 1933 to the nightmarish final solution to the liberation of the camps by the allies in 1945. Night and fog 1955 when the great french director alain resnais accepted producer anatole daumans invitation to make a documentary about the holocaust, he turned to a close friend, the noted poet and publisher jean cayrol, to write the narration that would accompany the. Ten years after the liberation of the nazi concentration camps, this piece documents the abandoned grounds of auschwitz and majdanek. In its depiction of a summertime pastoral idyll, with rolling green fields set beneath a wide blue sky, the opening shot of night and fog is the absolute antithesis of what one might expect from a controversial holocaust documentary. Jean cayrols commentary refers to a quiet country scene, and resnais holds the shot as flutes play a. How does one make a film about the concentration camps. Trivia jean cayrol found the project immensely distressing to work on, given the fact that he had been a concentration camp inmate. Muriel, or the time of return muriel ou le temps dun retour. Resnais third feature, and second film working with screenwriter jean cayrol, having previously collaborated on the 1955 short film night and fog. Jean cayrols commentary refers to a quiet country scene, and resnais holds the shot as flutes play a whimsical motif on hans eislers orchestral soundtrack. Now available in english, it is a most welcomeindeed, a pathbreakingaddition to the literature about the cinematic representation of the shoah. Jean cayrol, the lazarean and the everyday in postwar film, literature, music and the visual arts.
She has published a major study of night and fog, the documentary on auschwitz by alain resnais and jean cayrol. Night and fog refers to the arrival of prisoners in auschwitz under the cover of darkness and also the ultimate failure of the nazis at nuremberg to take responsibility for it. Cayrol, who collaborated with alain rensais on night and fog 1955 and muriel 1963, invites van wert to tape a conversation in paris because of an expressed difficulty in easily articulating his ideas in writing. Nuit et brouillard is a french documentary short film. Phillip lopate, night and fog, the criterion collection, 23 june 2003. I dont possess a vocabulary to convey the impact the images had upon me. Her most important is the wideranging, impressively detailed study of alain resnais brilliant documentary, nuit et brouillard night and fog, which she published in french in 2007. He is perhaps best known for writing the narration in alain resnaiss 1955 documentary film, night and fog. If your school or library already subscribes, access these videos on its gleeditions.
In 1954, the french publishing group hachette released a book about. Night and fog had the daunting responsibility of making an informative film from the appalling footage. If you have any questions or concerns regarding covid19, call the nc coronavirus helpline. The film shows how womens hair was made into rolls of. Jean cayrols commentary refers to a quiet country scene, and resnais holds the shot as flutes play a whimsical motif on hans eislers. Resnais and cayrol found the film very difficult to make due to its graphic. For resnais, the film was meant to showcase a warning that the horrors of nazism may be repeated during the algerian war where torture and internment were already under way. To get a concise overview of the contents of this video, go to our academic edition. Its a tribute to the clarity and cogency of night and fog that resnais masterpiece has not been diminished by time, or displaced by longer and more ambitious films on the holocaust, such as shoah and schindlers list. Films of peace and war edited by roger hughes new york. Directed by alain resnais, it was made ten years after the liberation of german concentration camps. Essays on childhood, the family, and antisemitism in occupation france, which stems from a conference she organized at columbia university about material culture and daily life during. Muriel, or the time of return muriel ou le temps dun. Released about ten years after the end of wwii, night and fog is as straightforward as historical nonfiction filmmaking gets.