In advance of this months article in conjunction with The Cineastes on Maurice Pialat’s L’Enfance-Nue I have written a brief piece on that films spiritual follow-up, Passe Ton Bac d’Abord. Its not as long an essay as I would usually produce for a film of this quality, but I have decided to incorporate a big part of it into my piece on L’Enfance-Nue, so consider this a teaser of sorts.

Produced in the wake of Maurice Pialat’s first flop, La Gueule Ouverte, a film seen by just 12,000 people upon it original release, Passe Ton Bac d’Abord saw the master filmmaker return to territory familiar to that of his earliest work.

Initially conceived as a follow-up to 1968’s L’Enfance-Nue, Passe Ton Bac d’Abord evolved into a very different film during it’s production. The story follows a group of teenagers, around the time of their baccalauréat, the examinations that a French student would sit at the end of their time at high school. We follow the lives of several teens, as they begin to take the steps that will shape their adult lives. Some of them marry older men, some flee the small town in which they have grown up to the almost mythical nirvana of Paris, and some simply stay the same.

You know it all of course , you’re young.

As mentioned above, Passe Ton Bac d’Abord started life as a sequel to L’Enfance-Nue, with the character of Simone from Pialat’s debut being the focus, in her almost adult years. Alas the actress that portrayed Simone, Linda Gutemberg decided against returning to the role, and so Pialat simply adapted to this by changing the characters. The character that most closely resembles Simone would be Elisabeth (Sabine Haudepin), the initial core protagonist of Passe…, although the fleeting timeline, and ensemble nature of the film dictates that Elisabeth isn’t the main focus of the film for very long. Every character gets their moment, with Patrick’s vignette being a personal favourite. The actor who portrayed Patrick, Patrick Lepcynski’s parents played his on screen parents, adding a layer of authenticity the likes of which one would expect from Pialat, a filmmaker often spoken of in the same breath as John Cassavetes for his ability to portray a sense of realism lacking from most pictures. I noted during the earliest of sequences, one which charts a game of netball as giving off a sense of pure verite, in that it feels completely real, it lacks the staging that even the most authentic of documentary-like features could be accused of. It feels honest.

Passe Ton Bac d’Abord is a beautifully shot film, and one that is very much in line with the rest of Pialat’s body of work. The manner in which the mundane can be projected in such an interesting manner is inspiring. That Pialat can somehow make a scene involving a man watching television of great awe is testament to this. There is a tracking shot that opens up the street (and indeed world) of our protagonists, which is not only revealing in its nature, but incredibly satirical too, such is the use of a Rolls Royce to chart this journey. The way in which Pialat delayed our introduction to the locale to so late in the picture reinforces the notion relayed in the “trapped” aspect of the film. So much so, that when two of the characters do finally flee to the heights of Paris, the manner in which their drive away from the scene of their upbringing bears the hallmarks of some far greater occasion (in terms of transport maneuverment!). When the van does finally make it free, the long road ahead gives a glimpse into the world they are heading towards.

Location is an incredibly important aspect to the structure of Passe Ton Bac d’Abord. The film is reliant on it’s locations as a catalyst for the drama of the situation, and the manner in which it exploits the narrative is as effective as the vignette nature in which the form exists. Similarly, the actual structure of the film is separated by unpredictable time skips that dictate as to where the story’s focus will be. It is the appliance of these unconventional techniques that separate Passe Ton Bac d’Abord from similar fare.

Expect more thoughts on Passe Ton Bac d’Abord and the rest of Pialat’s oeuvre next week.