Le Joli Mai
Signoret, Simone
Synopsis
“A far-reaching meditation on the relationship between individual and society” (Film Comment), Le Joli Mai probes the mood in the streets of Paris in May of 1962, “the first springtime of peace” that followed the March ceasefire between France and Algeria after seven years of war. Working from 55 hours of material filmed with ordinary citizens—made possible by then-new, lightweight, synch-sound cameras—Marker and Lhomme craft a “sincere, brilliant, clever and highly idiosyncratic essay” (Paris-Presse).