Adieu Philippine
With Jean-Claude Aimini, Yveline Céry, Stefania Sabatini.
France , 1961/63, 35mm, black & white, 106 min.
French with English subtitles.
An ode to the insouciance of youth, Adieu Philippine was director Jacques Rozier’s first feature film and, arguably, the work that most vividly captures the essence of the French New Wave. Using improvisation, amateur performers, hidden microphones, and cameras in real locations, the film possesses a rough spontaneity that conforms as much to the aesthetics of cinéma verité as to those of the Nouvelle Vague. In his last few months before military service, Michel, a young TV technician on holiday, befriends two aspiring actresses, Liliane and Juliette. The trio shares a holiday in Corsica as a prelude to Michel’s probable deployment to the war in Algeria. At the time of its release, Jean-Luc Godard called Adieu Philippine “quite simply the best French film of these last years.” Disputes with the producer, delays in its release, and its failure at the box office prevented Rozier from making another film for ten years.
