Duras film: Détruire dit-elle

Extract from Détruire dit-elle, a film by Marguerite Duras from 1969

— Is it the word “happy” that you said?
— Yes.
— Happy in this hotel? Happy? That’s peculiar, no?
— I am a little bit surprised myself.
— Why is that woman crying?
— How do you know? That happens often when there’s visits.
— You are tired.
— I don’t sleep.
— Certain times, the silence can prevent sleeping? The forest? The silence?
— Maybe.
— The hotel room.
— Also, yes.
— What do you do all day long?
— Nothing.
— Sometimes I speak with that Stein.
— You don’t read?
— I pretend to.
— You seem happy. It’s a good idea to stay a few days.

This film is almost as old as I am.

After this fragment it is mentioned that the woman is insane. But that is far from apparent compared to how everybody else speaks, in this film, or others, by other directors, even. Art tends to be a bit weird, sometimes. But one has to have the courage to see the humor in it. And not let the strangeness put one off.

Even when the subject matter is grave and the author is sincere, there is room for humor. If only because we recognize our own often silly behavior in some of the things we see on the screen.

I chose this fragment because it features two people sitting at a table. And while their conversation is fairly logical —as opposed to sometimes in Bientôt l’été— there is a strange feeling of things not being said. This conversation is about much more than the words that are exchanged.