Critique of Separation

“The cinematic spectacle has its rules, which enable one to produce satisfactory products. But dissatisfaction is the reality that must be taken as a point of departure. Whether dramatic or documentary, the cinema functions to present a false, isolated coherence as a substitute for communication and an activity that are absent. To demystify documentary cinema it is necessary to dissolve what is called its subject matter.” In this fascinating, seminal anti-film, Guy Debord articulates in full flesh his situationist manifesto, superimposing subtitles and a documentary-style commentary on a catalog of newsreel footage, book covers, rephotographed photographs, views of Paris’ neighborhoods, and seemingly candid footage of him and his friends in wandering between cafes and the street. Whereas the conventions of narrative fictional film would oblige us to separate the filmmaker Debord from both the voice of the film’s commentary and from the “character” played by Debord, a man in his late twenties pursuing a young girl who appears to be no more than seventeen.

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Direction: Guy Debord

Script: Guy Debord

Cinematography: André Mrugalski

Editing: Chantal Delattre

Narration: Guy Debord, Caroline Rittener

Format: DCP

Color: B&W

Production Country: France

Production Year: 1961

Duration: 19'

Contact: Les Films Du Losange

Guy Debord

Filmography

1952 Howlings in Favour of De Sade
1959 On the Passage of a Few Persons Through a Rather Brief Unity of Time (short)
1961 Critique of Separation (short)
1974 The Society of the Spectacle
1978 We Spin Around the Night Consumed by the Fire