Clarisse is gone…
Like an investigation into the life of Clarisse Albert, born in 1927 in the Mauges and dying in 1995 in her native village after living and working for 30 years at the television station in Niger, this film takes the form of a “road movie” that seeks a possible rejection of social immobility. It is based on the idealized and childlike vision I had of Clarisse Albert as a woman and recounts my journey in her footsteps. From France to Niger and back, the film traces Clarisse’s path through the century, viewed through her sensitivity to women's issues and the idea of images as vehicles for change, as well as the perception of the weight of one’s origins and the desire to escape them.
Type (Documentaire / Documentaire fiction / Série documentaire)DocumentaryGenre en anglaisSociety Written and directed byFleur AlbertIn association with CNC, Procirep, Scam - Brouillon d'un rêveBroadcasted by France 3, France 3 Ouest, ORTN (Niger)Festival(s)Artline Films Year2001Duration56min / 58 min
She wrote to me that these little girls knew the long silences… As a child, I dreamed over the postcards she sent me from Africa. Clarisse, my cousin, had chosen to live in Niger in the 1960s. I thought she must be quite an adventurer.
Each year during her family visits to the Nantes region, we learned more about each other. She expressed her indignation at the passive silence of the women here, who lost their light day by day because they had always desired but could not choose. She also shared the images she had captured of women in Niger. We talked about making a film together one day… My last letter went unanswered. Clarisse died on December 20, 1995.
The film is a quest tracing this character and largely unfolds in present-day Niger and the Nantes countryside. Constructed as a reflection on the condition of women, the portrait of Clarisse Albert emerges through the testimonies of those who knew her, through the description of the worlds she inhabited, and through the lens of her struggles and ambiguities.
Press coverage
It is the traces left behind by Fleur of a chosen exile that the young director reconstructs in this film, as one would unearth from an old trunk the belongings of a deceased person. Fleeting words written on paper, fragile images filmed for television, and memories of friends lamenting gradually reshape the silhouette of a dreamed Clarisse.
Libération
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