Losey on Location
In 1969, finishing a sophomore winter at Dartmouth, I was going through course offerings looking for different spring term possibilities. A friend mentioned that there was a 50-50 chance that a course in film direction by guest professor Joseph Losey might be interesting. Fifty-fifty sounded pretty good to me; I signed up.
Losey worked as a teacher in the same way he works as a director-with interminable energy, patience, and focused intensity. It was obvious that he loved his work; that was clearly communicated.
Six years later I was able to watch and photograph Losey out of an academic environment and on his own ground as he filmed his twenty-third feature-length film, Mr. Klein, in Paris. The same qualities that had drawn me to him as a teacher held him in good stead there. The students were replaced with actors, but the process of molding their skills into the finished film paralleled the interpretive insight and charged atmosphere he had brought to the classroom. Even the inevitable grumbling and dissention of the technical crew soon disappeared, being replaced by respect and affection for this man who had spent his entire working life since college in stage and film direction. With an energy that taxed the endurance of people 30 years his junior, he dovetailed the efforts of the 75 people on the film's crew, the 35 actors and actresses, 5,014 extras, and the scores of other people involved to varying degrees.
A "cautionary tale," as Losey put it, Mr.Klein was typically political and characteristic of the distinct visual and intellectual style that marks Losey's direction. As he demands involvement from his colleagues, he also asks it from his audience. Klein was filmed in fourteen weeks of many, many long days of work. Born within the cold winter days spent at 28 different locations in Paris, its environs, and Strasbourg, the film amazed me in its cohesiveness. There is a characteristic florid richness in Losey's visual style, which involves a kind of
incamera editing that gives uncommon dance and flow to his films. It was the force of his wisdom, experience, and stubborness that left the deepest impression on me. It may have been a 50-50 chance in taking his class, but in watching the man work, I realized there were no split chances involved in the quality of his films.
LEFT: Gare D'Austerlitz, Paris, January 21,1976. Losey {third from the right) watches over theshoulders of his crew during actual filming. Eachperson's concentration is following his or her area ofresponsibility. The moves of the actors and the cameraare carefully choreographed by chalk marks on thepavement. The catnera is mounted on a crab dolly, themovements of which are controlled by the grip, whosehead is visible in front of the director of photography(holding the light). The assistant director, with hishand raised, is responsible for carrying out Losey'sorders in detail. Kneeling is the stillman, whosephotographs are usedfor advertising and publicity. Itis a tightly synchronized operation.
BELOW: Studios de Boulogne, January 13, 1976.Following a day of shooting in the studio, Loseyreviews his shooting notes for the next day. He prepares detailed notes linked to the screenplay in order tocommunicate his interpretation of the words to keymembers of his staff. He is surrounded by the incredible paraphernalia of the studio the flats whichmake up the set's walls, the enormous photo-muralsthat are used to mimic reality, and the cables andequipment that follow film-making everywhere.
FAR LEFT: Rue Gabriel Lame, Paris,January 31, 1976. One of the finalscenes of the film took place underground. An underground cavern normally used for unloading wine boundfor the Parisian market was lit withenormous carbon arc lamps and transformed into boxcar loading docks forJews bound for concentration camps.
ABOVE: Rue des Panoyaux, Paris, December 17, 1975. Whenever the filming moved out to location, crowds wouldgather out of curiosity and desire to seeAlain Delon and Joseph Losey. Thislocation, in the 20th Arrondissement,was a slum area. The building whosewall is visible to the right was rentedfor use in the film. It was an abandoned tenement which had to be shoredup with new beams before the city authorities would give their approval forits use.
LEFT: "La Nouvelle Eve," Paris, December 10, 1975. To reconstruct aWorld War II cabaret scene, a closedcabaret from that vintage was locatedand brought back to life for the film.The skirts these actresses are wearingwere collecting dust when Losey spiedthem while reconnoitering the location.
RIGHT: Cutting rooms, Studios deBoulogne, December 30, 1975. In anuncharacteristic moment of dismay,Marie Castro-Vasquez (the assistanteditor) puzzles over her next move.
Jonathan Sa'adah '72 is a freelance photographerliving in Hartford. Vermont.
