“In a certain way every narration is a conspiracy.”
Pascal Bonitzer
In week 18 we will talk about Jean-Claude Carrière and Pascal Bonitzer and their book >Praxis des Drehbuchschreibens<. IMDB lists 143 credits for Carrière as a writer until today. He often co-writes his scripts with his directors. For Pascal Bonitzer IMDB lists 55 credits as a writer. Since 1996 he has also been directing films.
As you can see in the appendix, I’ve been reading quite a few books on screenwriting over the years. And believe it or not, most of them tell you the same. So I was astonished and thrilled to find a book that was totally different in every aspect: >Praxis des Drehbuchschreibens< (Jean-Claude Carrière & Pascal Bonitzer) and >Über das Geschichten erzählen< (Jean-Claude Carrière). Surprisingly you will hardly find the words ‚’protagonist’ & ’antagonist’, ’turning point’, ’climax’ and even the ’three-act structure’ in the course of his book.
As far as I can see, there is no English version of this book until now, perhaps one of the reasons it is hardly known. There is only the original French version and a Spanish one. So what it is about? It is about storytelling and offers a lot of insight into their process of developing a story. But there are also a lot of useful tips about the creative process itself, how to train this muscle that we call imagination on a daily basis.
When it comes to storytelling their starting point surprisingly (you may say) is a moral and ethical question: Can the one who I am talking to, benefit from what I will tell him?
The book is full of exercises and examples of a very unconventional thinking. I will give you some examples – think about it!
- Find openings for films and stories, change openings of existing films.
- Find out more about the origin of myths.
- To tell means to present an event.
- Don’t announce what you will see – don’t tell, what you already have seen.
- Every dramatic incident must be both unexpected and unavoidable.
- Imagine scenes and movements in films as doors you walk through, and doors you close.
- A script is the first version of a film.
- Abstract and simplify literature and short stories!
- It is preferable to know the end of a story – if it is but to avoid it!
- Feelings must create events, not the other way round!
- A story has many dimensions; there is also a foreground, a background and an aside.
- Don’t show everything, don’t explain everything.
- A story that you tell is different from one you hear. (Ingmar Bergman: >Persona<)
- The hidden is better than the unseen.
- To fascinate the audience it is enough to perform mysteriously: Characters are acting, but the audience doesn’t understand the meaning of the actions immediately.
- Learn to observe the details of everyday life, what authenticity means. Observe and immediately create little stories.
- Even if you work by yourself, you are several (as if you would work within a group).
- A scriptwriter sees a film, a plot everywhere.
As you can see in my selection of films especially Jean-Claude Carrière has been working with many quiet different directors. Try to find – while watching – some of his above mentioned strategies in these films.
Your turn!
1. Have a look at these videos with and about Jean-Claude Carrière:
2. Play a game of the Surrealists: tell a scene in 25 variations!
3. Ask professionals and shop owners about a certain topic you are interested in.
4. Take whatever photo and ask yourself: is there a hidden story behind it?
5. Watch a film with your friends. Afterwards everyone is supposed to write down a description, a summary. Compare!
6. Another group exercise: give all of your friends the same 10 photos, but in a different sequence. Let everyone design a story out of them.
7. Develop a story out of one sentence, for instance: „Tom left the building at 5pm without having called his younger sister…”
8. Watch pedestrians, try to find a story for each of them, a tragic one and a funny one.
Films to watch
(Scripts by Jean-Claude Carrière & Pascal Bonitzer)
Luis Buñuel
- The Phantom of Liberty (1974) IMDB
Jacques Deray
- La piscine (1969) IMDB
Jean Luc Godard
- Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1980) IMDB
Atiq Rahimi
- The Patience Stone (2012) IMDB
Jacques Rivette
- La belle noiseuse (1991) IMDB
Juan Carlos Rulfo / Natalia Gil Torner
- Carrière, 250 metros (2011) IMDB
Volker Schlöndorff
- The Tin Drum (1979) IMDB
Fernando Trueba
- The Artist and the Model (2012) IMDB
Daniel Vigne
- Le retour de Martin Guerre (1982) IMDB
Andrzej Wajda
- Danton (1983) IMDB
Wayne Wang
- Chinese Box (1997) IMDB