special screenings

Études de Paris

(seen 9 November 2014)

A silent film from 1928 with chamber music provided by specialists in the field who prefer to play live in direct response to the film, rather than to pre-record a soundtrack to accompany the screening.

The film shows in documentary fashion various ordinary events in Paris, providing a fascinating insight into city life in the late 1920s. There are some stunning filmic shots, such as of the passage of a barge through a tunnel, a part of the Canal St Martin, where pools of light from grills in the tunnel roof become almost solid shafts of glowing matter as the steam from the passing barge catches in the light. Other episodes highlight the great changes that have occurred since the film was made – such as the number of horses seen in the film as a whole (both riders taking their leisure in the Bois de Boulogne, and the work-horses being cared for and exercised in their stables), or the freedom of children (under nominal supervision from mothers or nannies) to roam about and enjoy themselves, or the relative absence of heavy traffic in the boulevards.

The music, provided by the Prima Vista Quartet, was entirely appropriate to the film, without being in the least a pastiche or a condescending piece of nostalgia.