Décembre 1979

Breaking in Patrice Kirchhofers Anorexie 4 continues on the path of the narrated narrative a short story by Chandler and Décembre 79 on the path of photography At the end of these two journeys the film becomes the subject and the trace of the same act of breaking in In Anorexie 4 the voice shapes the images the play of chess and of light and in Décembre 79 shot in the same abandoned mining region the photos shape the film chemical deposits fossils instantaneously striped and imprinted by signs of life and haunted by their ghostly presence A space of dreary grey of desolation which is in a neverending process of dying because the place even before being filmed already went through a vampirelike depletion In accepting the invitation of these tracking shots of abandoned factories the spectator is summoned to riverbanks similar to those of Dreyers Vampyr and Murnaus Nosferatu Charles TESSON Festival de Digne Cahiers du Cinéma n 314 JuilletAoût 1980