Buñuel, Luis. (1900–1983) [Labarthe, Andrew. (1931 - 2018)]
Autograph Letter Signed regarding "Le Journal d'une femme de chambre"
ALS in French, signed “Bunuel” to French New Wave actor Andre Labarthe, sending him a copy of the script of his new film and inviting him to be one of the small group of friends to see the film for the first time. One page, 8.25 x 10.5 (21 x 27 cm), February 5, 1964. Translated in full: "I returned this morning from the Alps where I had been traveling for a few days, not for sport but to get over a bad cold. I have for your review a script of Journal. I think the film could be ready to be seen next week. I will show it to five or six friends, including you two. I'll let you know a few days beforehand. It's for this reason that I'm giving you my script." In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in Bunuel's own hand, incorporating his name ("L. Bunuel") in the return address area.Often associated with the surrealist movement of the 1920s, Buñuel created films from the 1920s through the 1970s. His work spans two continents, three languages, and an array of genres, including experimental film, documentary, melodrama, satire, musical, erotica, comedy, romance, costume dramas, fantasy, crime film, adventure, and western. Despite this variety, filmmaker John Huston believed that, regardless of genre, a Buñuel film is so distinctive as to be instantly recognizable, or, as Ingmar Bergman put it, "Buñuel nearly always made Buñuel films."
In 1963, the legendary filmmaker was back in his home country of Spain, where he met with producer Serge Silberman who persuaded him to attempt an adaptation of Octave Mirbeau's Le Journal d'une femme de chambre, a novel that Buñuel had read frequently since his student days. Thus began Buñuel's second French period, more than thirty years after his last French film, L'Âge d'or (1930). It was also the start of the final (many would argue greatest) phase of his career and the beginning of his 19-year-long collaboration with the writer Jean-Claude Carrière. In the film, Buñuel delivers his most scathing assault on the bourgeoisie, his favorite satirical target. Le Journal d'une femme de chambre is among the bleakest and most naturalistic of Buñuel's films, containing none of his trademark surrealism and little of his ironic humour.
The French actor, film producer and director Andrew Labarthe starred alongside Anna Karina in Jean-Luc Godard's 1962 film Vivre sa vie, and also had a minor role in Breathless, among others. (22979)
Film Autograph Letter