Le Révélateur

A woman, a man and a small boy. Night, woods, empty houses, and a journey nobody discusses. Philippe Garrel shot it entirely silent: no dialogue, no music, only movement and light to look at. It was made in Germany immediately after May 1968 with a tiny crew and almost no script. Bernadette Lafont plays the mother. The idea is to present a family coming apart as a condition rather than an event, and the boy frequently seems more resolved than either adult, so the point of view migrates to him. For years it was barely screened and circulated as a legendary underground object. Who it is for: viewers drawn to experimental film and the French avant-garde at the end of the sixties. Who it is not for: anyone looking for narrative, since nothing here is explained.