La Cicatrice Interieure: The bizarre French film co-authored by Nico
The French ay, what are they like! The second you read a synopsis that simply states: “A composition of symbolic, surreal and almost mystic images,” you know that the country of origin is likely to be La République. The film in question is, of course, La Cicatrice Interieure (or The Inner Scar), co-authored by your friend and mine, Nico.
This wild splurge of unravelling images is just one of many chapters in the ever-changing life of Nico. A decade after the frolics of the film she would find herself shacked up in Manchester with John Cooper Clarke visiting social clubs. And five years before the film, Nico was in the Velvet Underground, a band so cool that calling them ahead of their time proves to be a misnomer because it implies their time has since arrived.
This, in short, is Nico—she was an unflinching artistic force of steadfast intent. Nothing depicts that quite like The Inner Scar. The star shunned the possible commercial outlets offered to her at the time, and instead headed off to the world’s most extreme locations with her lover, the director Phillippe Garrel, to create one of the strangest films ever.
Shot entirely on location in Death Valley, California, the Sinai region of North Africa, and the frozen corners of Iceland, this globetrotting adventure tested the body and mind in production. Consisting of only 20 shots, these long flowing sequences had to be tirelessly constructed on dolly cam tracks in blazing heat and freezing cold. All the while, surely the awareness that the bizarre nature of the content made it clear to the creators that its reach was never fated to be far.
So, was it all a folly from the deranged thoughts of two drug addicts in favour of a small, and sadly brief fortune? Is this the meta-French version of Withnail & I? Well, not exactly. Watched now, the artistry on display is as absurd as the film itself. The craft behind some of the shots is frighteningly good. The stark depictions of some of the most desolate areas of the world are stunning in any light you view them, and the Nico tracks that score it are mystical experiences.
As Garrel said of the picture: “You can’t ask questions of La Cicatrice intérieure you just have to enjoy watching it, in the same way you’d enjoy taking a walk in the desert. The film is a record of what was going through my head at the time of the shoot; it can consist only of traces and marks.” He certainly got that right—you might ask questions of it, but the answers that come back will certainly be indecipherable.
