Jean Eustache: A Dirty Story + Alix's Pictures

A Dirty Story

France | 1977 | 69 min. (incl. 19 min short film) | Jean Eustache

July 15 - 19, 2023

One of Eustache’s most radical experiments, the formally and narratively transgressive A Dirty Story presents two versions of the same event, in which a group of women listen to a man describe his discovery of a peephole in a women’s restroom. One is a “true” monologue delivered by the actual participant (Eustache’s friend and collaborator Jean-Noël Picq); the other a staged recreation of Picq’s performance starring Michael Lonsdale. Further muddying the waters between documentary and fiction, Eustache preferred that the “fictional” version be shown first.

Individual Tickets: Select showtime to purchase.
Passes: $90 | $60 SIFF Members - includes full series access.

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Director: Jean Eustache
Principal Cast: Michael Lonsdale, Laura Fanning, Jacques Burloux, Jean Douchet, Josée Yanne
Country: France
Year: 1977
Running Time: 69 min. (incl. 19 min short film)
Screenplay: Jean Eustache
Cinematographers: Jacques Renard
Editors: Chantal Colomer, Jean Eustache
Language: French
Has Subtitles: Yes

Alix's Pictures

Preceded By Short Film:

This film will be preceded by the short film Alix's Pictures
France | 1980 | 19 min. | Jean Eustache
An “essay in the shape of a hoax,” Eustache’s experimental short shows the photographer Alix Cléo Roubaud displaying and describing a series of her photographs to Eustache’s son, Boris. In a riff on Hollis Frampton’s Nostalgia that calls back to Eustache’s career-long experiments with representation and reality, Cléo Roubaud’s narration becomes increasingly out of sync with the imagery on-screen.