Le grand chariot

Das titelgebende Puppentheater wirkt ebenso aus der Zeit gefallen wie das Patriarchat der es betreibenden Familie. Und Altmeister Garrel, der nach 50 Jahren immer noch irgendwie 68er-Filme macht, blickt ebenso genau hinter die Kulissen der Puppenbühne wie er gnadenlos die Bilderbuchfassade der einstmals bürgerlichen Familie durchschaut. Nach dem Tod des Chefs und Vaters ist alles in Auflösung begriffen, die Kinder sollen das Theater übernehmen, wollen aber nicht. Ein fabelhafter Kurzschluss von Aufführung, Hintergrunderzählung, Autobiografie, Familiendrama und Reflexion über das künstlerische Dasein. (Roman Scheiber)

The script of Philippe Garrel’s latest film is forged from steel, with camera movements as precise as the microscopic mechanisms of a Swiss watch. Such respect for the inner life of his characters is shown that we enter their consciences without the need for a single word to express their specific condition. Set in the present day, the story focuses on the vicissitudes of a family of puppeteers. The father, his mother and his three children have been performing different children’s theatre classics for decades. They have a small theatre in front of their house and also tour the country. Their company is well-known and respected and has overcome obstacles of all kinds for that very reason. However, misfortune leads to a new challenge and everything changes. At this crossroads, Garrel imagines two opposing ideas that threaten the present situation: upholding a tradition can be exhausting or even fatal on the one hand, even as older artistic forms like puppet theatre can easily feel inadequate due to younger generations’ lack of interest in them. LE GRAND CHARIOT raises a question that hardly just concerns the world of puppeteers: how can a tradition that has become a minority practice, like Garrel’s cinema, resist? (Roger Koza)

Philippe Garell: J’ENTENDS PLUS LA GUITARE (1991), LA NAISSANCE DE L’AMOUR (1993), LE COEUR FANTÔME (1996), LE VENT DE LA NUIT (1999), SAUVAGE INNOCENCE (2001), LES AMANTS RÉGULIERS (2005), LA FRONTIÈRE DE L’AUBE (2008), UN ÉTÉ BRÛLANT (2011), LA JALOUSIE (2013), L’OMBRE DES FEMMES (2015), L’AMANT D’UN JOUR (2017), LE SEL DES LARMES (2019)