Neige

Schnee

Director: Juliet Berto, Jean-Henri Roger
Country: France

1981 | 90 min. | French
Subtitles: German, English

Cast_ Juliet Berto, Jean-François Stévenin, Robert Liensol Screenplay_ Juliet Berto, Jean-Henri Roger, Marc Villard Camera_ William Lubtchansky Producer_ Ken Legargeant, Romaine Legargeant, Romaine Legargeant, Yannick Bernard Rights_ JHR Films & Studiocanal GmbH

Removed from all tourist pictures, Neige embeds itself deeply in the community of Montmartre. A film that has acquired a cult status over the years.

Juliet Berto, one of the most influential actresses of the Nouvelle Vague, made her first film in 1981 with her partner Jean-Henri Roger. On the surface a study of the drug scene, Neige combines auteur cinema with genre elements. A dealer is shot dead by the police. Anita (Berto) tries to help the now desperate addicts in her neighbourhood. At the same time, she wants to take revenge for the death of the young dealer. Neige takes this story as an excuse to cast a brilliantly filthy look at Montmartre, and Berto/Roger create a true cinéma de quartier with cinematographer William Lubtchansky. A transition film, still bearing traces of the playfulness and lightness of the 1970s, while already heralding the night-time cinema of the 1980s.

Juliet Berto, eine der prägenden Nouvelle-Vague-Schauspielerinnen, realisiert 1981 mit ihrem Lebensgefährten Jean-Henri Roger den ersten eigenen Film. Vordergründig eine Drogenmilieustudie verbindet Neige Autorenkino mit Elementen des Genrefilms. Ein Dealer wird von der Polizei erschossen. Anita (Berto) versucht, den nun verzweifelten Drogenabhängigen in ihrem Viertel zu helfen. Gleichzeitig möchte sie sich für den Tod des jungen Dealers rächen. Neige nimmt diese Geschichte zum Vorwand, einen fulminant unsauberen Blick auf Montmartre zu werfen, und Berto/Roger erschaffen mit Kameramann William Lubtchansky ein wahres cinéma de quartier. Ein Film des Übergangs, der noch Spuren der Verspieltheit und Leichtigkeit der 1970er in sich trägt, gleichzeitig aber das nächtliche Kino der 1980er ankündigt.

Director

Juliet Berto was born in Grenoble in 1947 and died in Paris in 1990. She was an actress, film director and scriptwriter. She achieved fame above all as an actress in Jean-Luc Godard's films and made her directorial debut with the trend-setting Neige. Two more feature films followed, which she made from behind the camera.


Jean-Henri Roger, born 1949 in Marseille, died in 2012, was a French director. From the end of the 1960s onwards, he became very strongly committed to political cinema, sometimes in cooperation with Jean-Luc Godard, sometimes in other collective contexts. With Juliet Berto he shot Neige and Cap Canaille (1983). Further directorial works followed.