Short of the Week: an early work by Mia Hansen-Løve
In recent years, Mia Hansen-Løve has been steadily solidifying her reputation as one of the most talented filmmakers within the landscape of contemporary French cinema. Known for her highly acclaimed features, such as All Is Forgiven and Father of My Children, the French auteur has developed a fascinating body of work that has repeatedly attracted the attention of cinephiles and film critics all over the world.
Although she started out as an actor with appearances in projects directed by Olivier Assayas, she eventually realised that filmmaking was her true calling. After leaving the Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris, Hansen-Løve worked as a critic for Cahiers du cinéma, which provided her with mixed experiences. In addition to learning a lot about cinema, the future director was also subjected to misogyny while working at the renowned publication.
It was during that period when Hansen-Løve was driven to make a number of short films, including an interesting short titled Un Pur Esprit. Shot over the course of an afternoon in January of 2004, the film is an abstract portrait of a woman named Isabelle who walks through a public park and absorbs the various signs of life. According to the filmmaker, Un Pur Esprit was deeply influenced by the cinematic brilliance of the avant-garde pioneer Jonas Mekas.
During an interview with Slant Magazine, Hansen-Løve said: “[Jonas Mekas] was the first person I ever interviewed when I wrote for Cahiers du Cinéma, when I was very young. I was like 20 years old. So I watched all of his films, and they impressed me a lot. Recently, I watched one of my short films again, Un Pur Esprit, my second one. It’s a black-and-white, three-minute film, shot on 16mm, handheld, no dialogue. It looks like a small Jonas Mekas film.”
“I think I was very much influenced by him,” the filmmaker added while explaining the genius of Mekas’ formidable body of work and his approach to visual poetry. “But what I mean is that, for me, Lost, Lost, Lost, and Jonas Mekas’s other films are less like documentaries and more like poems. I really do see them like poetry. That’s what I mean when I say it becomes fiction for me. It’s not about representing reality. It’s still about transforming it.”
Un Pur Esprit is definitely poetic, but it’s nowhere close to the transcendental poetry that Mekas perfected throughout his illustrious career. After the recent release of Hansen-Løve’s latest project, One Fine Morning, it’s interesting to revisit this early short because it is undeniable evidence of how much the director has evolved since her first works.
Watch the film below.
