Published on November 18, 2024 at 00:47.
Olivier Smolders found the right title for his beautiful essay on Edmond Bernhard (Hal, Belgium, 1919-2001), the filmmaker and cinema theorist whose student he was at the National Institute of Performing Arts in Brussels. Indeed, Bernhard, like Robert Bresson, is a narrator-essayist. He develops stories in images that make you dream and think. His books, his courses, his films share the same poetic spirit. Throughout this penetrating story, Smolders gives voice to his master and to those who knew and loved him.
In the 1950s, Bernhard frequented filmmakers like Henri Storck, André Delvaux, Luc de Heusch and Jean Brismée at the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels. The latter, his neighbor in Ixelles whom he was going to visit in the middle of the night, said of him: “I found him fascinating. He was looking for the unfindable.” Boris Lehman, who wanted to give him a role in Life lessons (1995), remembers their conversations during walks at the North Sea: “We had discussions for hours. He always wanted to know more: why this, why that…” Chantal Akerman, who thought of making him appear in All night (1982), finally gave it up in the face of Bernhard’s flood of questions about the role he should play.
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