The Lorry

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The Lorry
Le-camion.jpg
Directed by Marguerite Duras
Written byMarguerite Duras
Produced byFrançois Barat
Pierre Barat
StarringMarguerite Duras
Gérard Depardieu
Cinematography Bruno Nuytten
Edited byDominique Auvray
Distributed byFilms Molière
Release date
  • 25 May 1977 (1977-05-25)
Running time
76 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

The Lorry (French : Le camion) or The Truck is a 1977 French drama film directed by Marguerite Duras.

Contents

Plot

Reaction

Le camion was entered into the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. [1]

After the Cannes debut, the crowd reacted "at first with highly vocal disbelief and the with outbursts of anger, and walk-outs" and even those "charmed by her harmonious, lulling use of the film medium ... have, buried under a few layers, the rebellious instincts that others [gave] loud voice to." [2]

Following the showing, Duras stood atop a flight of stairs while a crowd yelled insults at her. [2] Critic of the time, Pauline Kael wrote that she believed that Duras enjoyed antagonizing the crowd. [2]

It later opened at The New York Film Festival. [3]

In an interview with Marguerite Duras, Jean-Luc Godard praised the film for the way that it "lets the text come through but also carries it." [4]

Cast

Reception

Pauline Kael for The New Yorker wrote that in La Camion Dumas "has become a master" and that the film is a split between "her artistry and what the public wants...pointed up and turned against the audience." She praises the film as the "opposite extreme from popcorn filmmaking, it's the demonstration of creative force." [3]

References

  1. "Festival de Cannes: The Lorry". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 "Marguerite Duras" by Pauline Kael. Originally published in The New Yorker (1977). Collected in The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael edited Sanford Schwarts, The Library of America, 2011, pp 552–556.
  3. 1 2 Kael, Pauline (27 October 2011). The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael: A Library of America Special Publication. Library of America. pp. 552–556. ISBN   978-1-59853-171-8.
  4. Duras, Marguerite, Godard, Jean Luc, Duras-Godard, NY: Film Desk Books: 2020.