Louis Skorecki's Dialogues avec Daney: A Cinéphile's Testament
A review of Louis Skorecki's posthumous collection 'Dialogues avec Daney' (published by Capricci) examines his radical cinephilia rooted in television and amnesia. Skorecki, co-founder of the film journal with Serge Daney in 1962, argued that true cinephilia shifted to TV after Hitchcock and Hawks abandoned cinema in the 1950s. His daily column 'Le film du jour à la télé' in Libération (1996-2007) developed a critical, fictionalized writing style. The book includes dialogues with the deceased Daney, a technique Skorecki called 'prosopopée,' where they discuss filmmakers like Jacques Lourcelles and François Truffaut. Skorecki claimed to have no memory of films, stating 'I am the object a of cinema,' and defined cinema as 'dreaming in the dark.' The review, by Laurent Goumarre, highlights Skorecki's assertion that masterpieces have 'three halves.'
Key facts
- Louis Skorecki co-founded a film journal with Serge Daney at age 19 in 1962.
- He wrote 'Contre la nouvelle cinéphilie' in 1978, arguing TV is the true site of cinephilia.
- His column 'Le film du jour à la télé' ran in Libération from 1996 to 2007.
- Skorecki claimed to have no memory of films, calling himself 'the object a of cinema'.
- He defined cinema as 'dreaming in the dark' and emphasized sound over image.
- The book 'Dialogues avec Daney' features fictional conversations with the deceased Daney.
- Skorecki admired Jacques Lourcelles, calling him 'a genius of the right, but a genius nonetheless'.
- He was critical of François Truffaut, dismissing him as a 'petit-maître'.
Entities
Artists
- Louis Skorecki
- Serge Daney
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Howard Hawks
- Jacques Lourcelles
- François Truffaut
- Laurent Goumarre
Institutions
- Libération
- Capricci
- Les Inrockuptibles
Sources
- artpress —