Realism(s) #4

Cimetière du Montparnasse, 02.06.10

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We stumbled across Pialat’s grave by accident, wandering amidst rows of blackened stone, scanning epitaphs, looking for nothing in particular. I had to resist the urge to clear away the debris – a few pebbles, a laminated photograph, some neglected shrubs. They seemed misplaced: what should stand between this body below and the cold slab upon which our respects rest? As if the tomb of the man who made La gueule ouverte should mediate its gaze from oblivion – that of the sky, and beyond. Pialat never flinched; nor should we.

We discovered later that Rohmer’s grave is located in the 13th. division of the same cemetery, but decided not to return. After all, there's little reason to think that the monuments to these men should be anything other than their cinema – never, sadly, a fixed point in the earth (at least a material trace), but always an excuse to look away.