Finding closeness in the glass barriers between us.
Director and author Claude Sautet is best known in the U.S. for his Oscar-nominated film A Simple Story, but the Frenchman made several stunners over his career (including Un cœur en hiver and Vincent, Paul, François, et les Autres). Many of these films contain a moving visual motif: that of storytelling through a meshing of background and foreground in glass reflections.
These intimate reflections overlap images organically, like they do when we walk down a rainy city street, to create distance and closeness at the same time. People are separated by facile, transparent barriers that ultimately make them seem closer than anything else.
Trois Couleurs created this side-by-side examination of the technique, finding poignancy in its elegant visual language.
Related Topics: Cinematography, Claude Sautet, Video
