Make a movie
United States, 1995
Titre original : Making Movies
Author: Sidney Lumet
Translation: Charles Villalon
Publisher: Capricci
279 pages
Genre: Professional manual
Publication date: October 6, 2016
Format : 122 mm X 190 mm
Prix : 19 €
3,5/5
Even if “Making a Film” was written almost thirty years ago, with the French translation occurring quite late in 2016, Sidney Lumet’s book retains its relevance in the current cinematographic landscape. The digital revolution and the arrival of online platforms may have happened, but the process of making a film has not really evolved from top to bottom since the director’s period of activity.A dog’s afternoon.
More than ever, it is a collective effort, in which the solidarity of the collaborators is as important as the director’s assurance of knowing what he wishes to express through his feature film. This colossal task, from the choice of the scenario to that of the advertising strategy, is detailed there with commendable pragmatism, as well as through a significant number of examples, taken directly and without filter from Sidney’s illustrious filmography Lumet.
Rather than putting itself forward, with its undeniable successes like Network Hands down on the TV or The Verdictthe author prefers to let his passion for cinema and his tireless determination speak for themselves, in order to deliver the best possible film to the producer. Like his acceptance speech on the occasion of the award in 2005 of an honorary Oscar, also late, Lumet here demonstrates a certain modesty and the wisdom necessary to be able to admit sporadic mistakes. throughout a checkered career.
However, it is hardly the self-evaluation of his work that matters here, but the highly instructive explanation of the thirteen major stages leading to the theatrical release of any film. This routine spread over several months of production, the filmmaker has mastered it like the back of his hand. While knowing full well that each shoot is different and that the recipe for success belongs to no one, not even the Hollywood giants of the past (Walt Disney) and the present (Steven Spielberg).
Synopsis: The aspects of cinematographic creation are multiple. From the choice of the scenario and its major themes to the survey cards given to spectators during test screenings, including casting, rehearsals, development of sets and costumes, filming, editing and design of the soundtrack including the music, there are many opportunities to make the wrong choice and thus torpedo the final product. With extensive experience in Hollywood, American director Sidney Lumet (1924-2011) delivers a gripping look behind the scenes of cinema.
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A passionate and exciting conductor
The most adroit and conciliatory of collaborators: this is how Sidney Lumet seems to define himself through “Making a Film”, firmly located at the center of the creative storm that is the production of a cinema film. His goal, as captain of the cinematic ship, is for everyone to move forward together to make the same film. Thus, the majority of his team members receive praise throughout the pages. With a special mention for the cinematographer assigned to his first films Boris Kaufman, the composer he introduced to cinema Quincy Jones and even the colorist. On the other hand, there are three categories of people towards whom the director repeatedly shows disdain: the drivers, the stars’ makeup artists/hairdressers and the opinion pollsters at the fateful moment of the test screenings.
Moreover, his relentless focus on the commercial side of cinema, which occupies the last part of the book, based on fairly technical although not too tedious explanations on mixing, suggests a certain bitterness, where previously an communicative love of the Seventh had prevailed. art.
Indeed, all things considered, Sidney Lumet is perfectly aware of the place he occupies in the history of cinema. He dwells on films that are close to his heart and which have barely met their audience, to the point of falling into obscurity, like his adaptation of Eugene O’Neill Long journey into the night with Katharine Hepburn or Daniel with Timothy Hutton, whose reputation was somewhat restored thanks to its release on French screens last year. At the same time, his remarks remain rather parsimonious in the face of indisputable failures like The Eyes of Satan.
However, the purpose of this fascinating work is not to sort out the good and bad films of Sidney Lumet, but to substantially improve understanding, both among future cinema professionals and spectators. philistines, of what it entails to tackle the task of making a film, moreover with an uncertain outcome.
Every detail counts
The author immediately indicates that “Making a Film” is not at all a hidden autobiography, full of salacious details about the private life of Sidney Lumet and settling scores with overly capricious actors or incompetent technicians. From then on, you will find nothing there, absolutely nothing about the director’s debut on television in the 1950s, before making his splashy entry into the cinematic arena with 12 angry men in 1958.
However, the book, which clearly enjoys lasting popularity since the one we borrowed from our municipal library was part of the seventh printing, barely five years after the release date in French bookstores, does not hesitate to put the Lumet’s working methods in perspective compared to what was done before. These brief history lessons, never longer than one or two pages, attest – if there was still a need to do so – to the author’s unfailing lucidity.
What assessment then can we draw from this reference work, very easy to read and sublimely informative, despite a few typing errors and the name of Sydney Pollack, scratched here as almost everywhere? That the immense luck of Sidney Lumet, capable of carrying out a career rich in forty-three feature films, some of which have rightly passed to posterity, should more often reverberate on us, spectators sometimes too capricious to recognize the sheer amount of work we have the privilege of consuming on the big screen.
With every stage of film production amounting to a tug-of-war in defense of the integrity of the work and the intentions of the director, it might be best to be a little less condescending towards films that are not entirely successful. Except for the fact that Lumet, during his final tirade, is the first to recognize that quality films are the business of a minority, at all times prey to being corrupted by the deluge of mediocre films.
Conclusion
The very variable quality of Sidney Lumet’s films, a true jack-of-all-trades who almost systematically alternated between masterful works and inexplicable failures, could have led one to believe that the director didn’t really know what he was doing during the half-year. century that his illustrious career lasted. “Making a Film” refutes this assumption with quite appreciable firmness. On the contrary, the director’s explanations, as revealing as they are entertaining, only increase our admiration for the men and women who dare to abandon themselves body and soul to the shifting sands of the film industry in general, and for Sidney Lumet in particular !
