A Visit to the Louvre

The film takes place in the Louvre. The camera moves from painting to painting. The moves are slow and measured. What we hear is a text being read. The text comes from words of Cézanne’s. Joachim Gasquet set them down. Gasquet had gone round the museum with the painter. His book holds the notes from that walk. In the film those notes are spoken aloud. The reader is Julie Koltaï. Jean-Marie Straub speaks in between. He takes the part of Gasquet. An imaginary visit is built that way. The painter talks about other painters. What he says is blunt and exact. The film is a companion to the directors’ earlier Cézanne. The forty nine minute film is the work of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, a French, German and Italian production finished in 2004.