Pierre Rolinet survived the Nazi concentration camp of Naztweiler-Struthof in annexed Alsace. The sculptor Cécile Raynal comes to meet him for a few days to create a portrait work, in homage to all the victims of this camp. From their exchange and from the clay, two sculptures against oblivion are born. “Sculpting Memory” is a documentary by Jean-Marie Gigon.
A sculpture against oblivion. It is the process of creating a sculpted portrait that Jean-Marie Gigon invites you to assist in his documentary “Sculpting memory“. Cécile Raynal, sculptor artist, goes to Pierre Rollinet for several days in a row to create her portrait.
The portrait is to be installed in front of the Naztweiler-Struthof concentration camp in Alsace as a tribute to all the victims of Nazi barbarity. Pierre Rollinet, 98 years old at the time of filming, is a survivor of the camp. While Cécile Raynal sculpts, he tells about hell, he testifies.
From listening and mutual observation is born the sculpture which will serve as a bulwark against oblivion. The old man has since died. This sculpture will have been his last testimony.
Here are three reasons to see this documentary available here.
No anger in Pierre Rollinet’s voice. No desire either to rehash the terrible moments and the struggles for survival between deportees. The man only wants to witness scenes of solidarity. Like that day, when he arrived at the camp with a group of French resistance fighters. After one of them shouted “Long live de Gaulle” and the entire group was punished: “no one wanted to say who it was [qui avait crié]. You will all be shot. They made us work for a day: we dug a trench and the others filled in behind it. The Russians chipped in in their barracks to give us a little piece of bread in the evening.“
The dignity of the old man commands respect. This will be the case throughout the documentary.
While he speaks, she sculpts. With her intense gaze Cécile Raynal scrutinizes, questions and penetrates the face of her model. From his agile and loose hands, little by little, a frail and strong silhouette emerges. That of a seated man with long legs, looking far ahead. Then a bust of the same man, both pensive and resistant, his strong hand held out in front of his chin as an introduction to the testimony. Two representations, two facets that she reads through Pierre’s words. Its land which becomes man.
“I don’t do much” she said to Pierre, “I let it come. I hope to be a still that can receive the hours we spend together. You and me. Him there! [Elle montre le buste]. This is between you and me. I’m not absent. I make no claim to objectivity.” She adds “It’s not a photo. I take portraits. If another sculptor comes and makes another portrait, it won’t look at all like the one I made. Even when we try to be as close as possible to the truth, it is still a fable.“
The art of being an artist! The dexterity of the hands, the penetrating gaze and the still, the secrets of Cécile’s artistic recipe.
Because Pierre, despite the weight of the years, retains his mischievous eye. His movements are certainly slower, but not his mind. He accepts without complaint the long hours of exposure that his status as a model imposes on him. Even if as the days go by, we feel our fatigue creeping in. His rare impatience manifests itself when he is hungry. “Good ! I am going to eat ! I have the right ?”, he says with bravado, putting an end to the morning session. The artist just has to stop while waiting for his model to return after his nap.
And then, with a good dose of dark humor, the old man asks the sculptor questions about the process of finishing the work. She tells him about the oven and cooking. “I never thought I’d be cooked one day.” he then exclaims “ If I should have been burned… but not cooked !”
To which Cécile, the artist, responds: “I’m here, in front of this gentleman who tells me, I could have ended up in ashes and I’m going to be cooked! And that’s going to make you eternal, do you realize?!”. A nice snub to the tragic story he lived through.
