Draft:Three Interpretation Exercises
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| Three Interpretation Exercises | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Cristi Puiu |
| Written by | Cristi Puiu |
| Based on | Three Conversations by Vladimir Solovyov |
| Starring | Ludivine Anbérrée Marion Bottollier Ugo Broussot Anne-Marie Charles Anne Courpron Perrine Guffroy Hillary Keegin Nathalie Meunier Barnabé Perrotey Jean-Benoît Poirier Diana Sakalauskaité Patrick Vaillant |
| Cinematography | Luchian Ciobanu |
| Edited by | Dragoș Apetri Thomas Johannsen |
Production companies | Les Chantiers Nomades Mandragora |
Release date | 2013 |
Running time | 157 minutes |
| Countries | France Romania |
| Language | French |
Three Interpretation Exercises (French: Trois exercices d'interprétation; also known as Three Exercises of Interpretation) is a film directed by Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu. It was made in Toulouse during an acting workshop organised by Les Chantiers Nomades and is based on passages from Vladimir Solovyov's Three Conversations.[1][2][3]
The film consists of three sections featuring twelve actors divided into groups of four. Each group worked with a contemporary version of Solovyov's text, and the three sections were later edited together into a feature-length film.[1][4]
The film was shown at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2013 and later screened at the Transilvania International Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and FICUNAM in Mexico City.[5][6][7]
Puiu later returned to Solovyov's text for Malmkrog (2020).[8]
Background and production
[edit]The project began when Puiu was invited to lead an acting workshop for Les Chantiers Nomades in Toulouse. Sources differ on the date of the workshop. Puiu's account to Cinema Scope and Doinel Tronaru's account in Adevărul place it in 2011, while Screen Daily reported that the workshop took place in the summer of 2012.[1][3][2]
Puiu later said that he initially considered working with material associated with Éric Rohmer and Jean Eustache before deciding to use Solovyov's Three Conversations.[1][3]
He had first read Solovyov's book in Romanian in the early 1990s.[8] The book consists of discussions concerning war, morality, progress and religion and concludes with the "Short Story of the Antichrist".[4]
Puiu gave the actors a French translation of Solovyov's text and proposed making a filmed exercise during the workshop. He later said that the material was not initially intended for public exhibition.[1][8]
The actors were asked to learn the text, transfer the situations to the contemporary period and improvise while retaining the substance of Solovyov's arguments.[1] The five principal conversational roles in the original text were reduced to four for each group. The roles were assigned without regard to the sex of the characters in Solovyov's text.[3][4]
Each of the three main sections was filmed over three days.[2] Luchian Ciobanu was the cinematographer, Jean-Paul Bernard recorded the sound, and Stéphanie Hubert was credited as stage director.[9]
The film was edited in Bucharest by Dragoș Apetri and Thomas Johannsen.[3][4] Filippi wrote that the titles of the three sections, based on simple phrases resembling language-learning exercises, were introduced during the editing process.[4]
The film was dedicated to Éric Rohmer.[10]
Puiu began developing what eventually became Malmkrog after the Toulouse workshop. In a 2020 interview with Film Comment, he described Three Interpretation Exercises as a "happy accident" and said that he did not want to abandon the ideas explored during the workshop.[8]
Sources also differ on the production year and running time. Screen Daily describes the film as a 2012 production running 158 minutes, while Film at Lincoln Center, Cinepub and Fundación Proa list it as a 2013 film running 157 minutes.[2][11][12][13]
Structure
[edit]The film consists of three main sections. In each, four people meet for a meal or social gathering and their conversation incorporates material from Solovyov.[9][4]
The discussions concern subjects including religion, morality, social progress and death. Filippi noted that the adaptation draws mainly on Solovyov's second and third conversations.[4]
La souris est sous la table
[edit]La souris est sous la table ("The Mouse Is Under the Table") follows Marion and Patrick, both university teachers, who receive Patrick's colleague Ugo and Ugo's childhood friend Jean-Benoît, a professional soldier on leave.[9][4]
Their conversation includes disagreements concerning religion, class and morality. The episode also contains contemporary references, including the film Thor.[10]
Le chat est sur la chaise
[edit]Le chat est sur la chaise ("The Cat Is on the Chair") follows Anne-Marie and her daughter Ludivine, who receive Diana, a university teacher, and her boyfriend Barnabé, a filmmaker.[9][2]
Their discussion includes morality, death and the Antichrist. The characters also watch and discuss Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century.[9][2]
Le singe est sur la branche
[edit]Le singe est sur la branche ("The Monkey Is on the Branch") follows Hillary, Perrine, Anne and Nathalie as they prepare for a séance.[9][4]
The séance takes place in the final section, when the characters from the three groups gather around the same table.[3][6]
Cast
[edit]- La souris est sous la table
- Marion Bottollier as Marion
- Patrick Vaillant as Patrick
- Ugo Broussot as Ugo
- Jean-Benoît Poirier as Jean-Benoît
- Le chat est sur la chaise
- Anne-Marie Charles as Anne-Marie
- Ludivine Anbérrée as Ludivine
- Diana Sakalauskaité as Diana
- Barnabé Perrotey as Barnabé
- Le singe est sur la branche
- Hillary Keegin as Hillary
- Perrine Guffroy as Perrine
- Anne Courpron as Anne
- Nathalie Meunier as Nathalie
The cast is credited in contemporary festival and review material.[9][13]
Release
[edit]Three Interpretation Exercises was shown at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2013. The Transilvania International Film Festival subsequently screened the film in Cluj-Napoca on 2 June 2013.[5]
In August 2013, it was included in a retrospective devoted to Puiu at the Sarajevo Film Festival.[6]
The film was also presented in the Wavelengths programme of the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013.[1] Its U.S. premiere took place on 1 December 2013 as part of Film at Lincoln Center's Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema programme.[11]
In 2014, the film competed at FICUNAM in Mexico City.[7] It was also shown by Fundación Proa in Buenos Aires in September 2014.[13]
The film did not receive a conventional commercial release. Puiu told Film Comment that because of the circumstances in which the project had been made, it could not legally be sold or distributed.[8] Tronaru also wrote about the lack of a conventional distributor and DVD release.[3]
The Romanian platform Cinepub later made the film available online.[12]
Reception
[edit]Ronnie Scheib of Variety called the film "a brilliant, albeit supremely uncommercial, fest entry" and compared aspects of its style to the cinema of Éric Rohmer.[9]
Dan Fainaru of Screen Daily described it as "a fascinating three part study in Rohmer-type acting" and praised the performances and the film's observational approach.[2]
Doinel Tronaru considered it one of Puiu's strongest films.[3] In 2019, he included it among his selection of thirty Romanian films of the 2010s.[14]
Filippi connected the film's structure to the conditions in which the Toulouse workshop was organised and discussed the contrast between its philosophical material and the informal behaviour of the characters.[4]
Victor Morozov later compared the film with Malmkrog and expressed a preference for the earlier film's more informal approach.[10]
Film scholar Monica Filimon discussed Three Interpretation Exercises in her 2017 book on Puiu, published by the University of Illinois Press.[15]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cutler, Aaron (30 August 2013). "Every Film Must Be an Exercise: Cristi Puiu on Three Interpretation Exercises". Cinema Scope. No. 55. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fainaru, Dan (9 June 2013). "Three Exercises Of Interpretation". Screen Daily. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tronaru, Doinel (17 March 2014). "Cristi Puiu faţă cu Antihristul sau Soloviov văzut prin Rohmer". Adevărul (in Romanian). Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Filippi, Gabriela (30 October 2014) [July 2014]. "Trei exerciții de interpretare". Film Menu (in Romanian). Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Trei exerciții de interpretare – proiecție specială". Transilvania International Film Festival (in Romanian). 1 June 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Tribute to Cristi Puiu". Sarajevo Film Festival. 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 Ortiz Garcia, Eric (7 February 2014). "FICUNAM 2014 News: Full Lineup Revealed, With Miyazaki's The Wind Rises As Opening Film". ScreenAnarchy. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Cronk, Jordan (28 February 2020). "Interview: Cristi Puiu". Film Comment. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Scheib, Ronnie (23 December 2013). "Film Review: 'Three Exercises of Interpretation'". Variety. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 Morozov, Victor (1 October 2021). "Antihristul după Cristi Puiu". Scena9 (in Romanian). Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Three Exercises of Interpretation". Film at Lincoln Center. 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Three Exercises of Interpretation – feature film". Cinepub. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 "ProaCine. September. Three exercises of interpretation, by Cristi Puiu". Fundación Proa. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- ↑ Tronaru, Doinel (30 December 2019). "Cele mai bune 30 de filme româneşti ale deceniului. „Aurora" şi „Touch Me Not" jalonează anii de început şi de sfârşit ai decadei". Adevărul (in Romanian). Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- ↑ Filimon, Monica (2017). Cristi Puiu. Contemporary Film Directors. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-08227-6. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
Category:2013 films Category:2013 drama films Category:French drama films Category:Romanian drama films Category:2010s French-language films Category:French-language Romanian films Category:French anthology films Category:Films directed by Cristi Puiu Category:Films shot in Toulouse
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