September 12: The Death of a Film Figure

2015-09-12

Photo Credit: Marc Roussel

On 12 September 2010, Claude Chabol died. Chabol was first introduced to the world of film when he was invited to write for Cahiers du Cinema. The magazine was said to be essential in the New Wave of French cinema or, Nouvelle Vague. Cahiers du Cinema helped to re-invent film criticism and theory which, in turn, resulted in a re-evaluation of Hollywood and its filmmakers. The new wave was brought about hoping to shoot more films on current social issues.

The New Wave took a sort of documentary approach to film making and put a twist on the normal conservative style of filming. Arising from Cahiers du Cinema, Claude filmed the first of the New Wave films Le beau Serge (1958), followed by Les cousins (1959). Soon after, Chabols filmed A Double Tour (1959) would lead him to fall in love with the thriller, mystery, and murder theme. Along with being fascinated with mysteries, and psychological thrillers, Chabols had a liking to female lead roles, which personally I find very appealing. Charbol made over 60 films in 50 years and was always taken to liking by the people whom he surrounded himself with.

Charbol was a man who loved murder, but was not a dark person. He was not afraid to admit that one of his very own films was one of the worst that he had seen. When he was filming something that he did not like in the first place he would often rush through it and spend no time editing scenes, and would simply just move on to his next project.

When Claude Charbol died, he took away from the world someone who, at one point, could be known for the best French Film maker. The French film directors’ association stated, “Every time a film-maker dies, a singular view of the world and a particular expression of our humanity is irreparably lost to us.” And that is the truth; I myself am very interested in looking into Claude’s work as to help his memory and legacy stay locked in time, and I hope that some others will do the same.

–Taylor Jacobs

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