''Le Joli Mai'' ("The Lovely Month of May") is a 1963 French

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

by Chris Marker and

Pierre Lhomme Pierre Lhomme (5 April 1930 – 4 July 2019) was a French cinematographer and filmmaker. Filmography *2002 : ''Le Divorce'' by James Ivory *1999 : '' Cotton Mary'' by Ismail Merchant *1998 : '' Voleur de vie'' by Yves Angelo *1997 : '' Les Pal ...

. Beginning in the spring of 1962, just after the close of the Algerian War and the

Évian Accords The Évian Accords were a set of peace treaties signed on 18 March 1962 in Évian-les-Bains, France, by France and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic, the government-in-exile of FLN (), which sought Algeria's independence ...

, Marker and his cinematographer

shot 55 hours of footage interviewing people on the streets of Paris. The questions, asked by the unseen Marker, range from their personal lives to social and political issues of the day. As he had with montages of landscapes and indigenous art, Marker created a film essay that contrasts and juxtaposes a variety of lives with his signature commentary (spoken by Marker's friends, singer-actor

Yves Montand Ivo Livi (), better known as Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), was an Italian-French actor and singer. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, Ivo held stron ...

in the French version and

Simone Signoret Simone Signoret (; born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a ...

in the English version). The film has been compared to the ''

cinéma vérité Cinéma vérité (, , ; "truthful cinema") is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or ...

'' films of

Jean Rouch Jean Rouch (; 31 May 1917 – 18 February 2004) was a French filmmaker and anthropologist. He is considered one of the founders of cinéma vérité in France. Rouch's practice as a filmmaker, for over 60 years in Africa, was characterized b ...

, and criticized by its practitioners at the time.Wakeman, John. World Film Directors, Volume 2. The H. W. Wilson Company. 1988. 649–654. It was shown in competition at the 1963

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

, where it won the award for Best First Work. It also won the Golden Dove Award at the Leipzig DOK Festival. ''Le Joli Mai'' was Marker's first project after he made the 1962 science fiction short ''

La Jetée ''La Jetée'' () is a 1962 French science fiction featurette directed by Chris Marker and associated with the Left Bank artistic movement. Constructed almost entirely from still photos, it tells the story of a post-nuclear war experiment in tim ...

'', perhaps his most famous film. ''Le Joli Mai'' was shown as part of the Cannes Classics section of the

2013 Cannes Film Festival The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and ...

References

External links

*
Notes on the 2009 restoration
1963 documentary films 1963 films Films scored by Michel Legrand Films directed by Chris Marker French documentary films 1960s French-language films 1960s French films {{France-documentary-film-stub