Abstract EN:

How does one define the emotional impact of such singular shots in which a film-maker literally reaches his hand into the frame to touch what he's filming? In my research, I have decided to label this cinematic gesture a "contact-shot". Alain Cavalier's films offer a wide variety of such "contact-shots": are they not shots that emblematize his vision of the cinema? His films are “contact-films”: he puts his entire self into his works and strives to get to the heart of matters, to create a direct link with what he's filming and foster an exchange at times verging on fusion. But his films may also be qualified as “proof films” in the sense that assertions are based on documents, events of all kinds, eye-witness accounts, “root-images” and true-life experiences. “Contact and proof”: Alain Cavalier only films what he can touch. Spanning the author's entire works from Un Américain (1958) right through to Filmeur (2005) I have focused on the evolution of the “contact-shot” concept in its various stages (nascent forms, first attempts, experimentations, its emergence and progressive dissolution) and thus witnessed the author's transformation from film director into “filmer” (filmeur).