six interviews by critic Michel Ciment with legendary directors, a lesson in cinema

Dean of film criticism, pillar of the legendary magazine Positive, Michel Ciment, is a bit like the “boss”. An admirer of American cinema, he was also the privileged interviewer of Stanley Kubrick in France, on whom he wrote a definitive work. In Passport to Hollywood, it brings together his interviews with directors Billy Wilder, John Huston, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Roman Polanski, Milos Forman and Wim Wenders. From the Golden Age to the New Hollywood: A Vision of American Cinema in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century.

For Michel Ciment, American cinema changed completely when directors began to write their screenplays. John Huston (The Maltese Falcon1941), Joseph L. Mankiewicz (The Barefoot Countess1954), Billy Wilder (Dusk Boulevard, 1950) belong to a golden age that propelled Hollywood to the pinnacle of the world film industry. They prefigure what will become in France the “politics of authors” which defines the director as the main person responsible for his film, and not as the kingpin between producer and distributor. Theorized by François Truffaut, it will later influence American filmmakers with other precepts.

Following them, Roman Polanski, Milos Forman and Wim Wenders personified European directors whose films were produced by Hollywood from the 1960s. They perpetuated and renewed this independence at a time when the dream factory was being called into question. Like their elders, they are of foreign descent, but unlike them, they were not born in the United States. Passport to Hollywood lives up to its title. All are part of a tradition but with the desire to move the lines. Their testimonies take part in a plural history of cinema which would be their homeland, more than their country, at the crossroads of art and industry.

Billy Wilder opens the ball with this anthology of interviews and is full of anecdotes, having participated in the passage from the classicism of the 1930s to a new modernity. The original American optimism is tinged with irony, cynicism and doubt. John Huston and Joseph Mankiewicz, his contemporaries, do the same, without having anything in common in their films, except to work for an adult cinema. Roman Polansky (Rosemary’s Baby1967), Milos Forman (Ragtime1981) and Wim Wenders (ParisTexas1984) are their heirs.

All fed by Hollywood, their American dream came true when they were invited by the studios to make films there. They captured a common heritage with a European sensibility. The result is new films at a time when America and Hollywood are looking for each other. Questioned by one of the greatest French critics,their experiences bear witness to the links between Europe and the United States through the prism of cinema. Six exceptional encounters with legends, led by one of the greatest journalists and historians of the dream factory.

Passport to Hollywood, Michael Cement. Editions Carlota. 18 euros