Dissolving & Reconstituting Narrative Cinema

4	Natalie Granger	1970 – Margueritte Duras (USA)
	Non-eventfullness	Profile - Marguerite Duras; happening & not-happening; action & description; narrative threads

A: Marguerite Duras

Born in Indo China in 1914. Shifted to Paris at 18. Part of the New Novel movement in literature. First novel published in 1943. First film made in 1966 (at the age of 52). Wrote the screenplay for Alan Resnais' HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR. Her own films : LA MUSICA (66) 'DESTROY SHE' SAID (69); JAUNE LE SOLEIL (71); NATHALIE GRANGER (72); THE WOMAN OF THE GANGES (74); INDIA SONG (2 versions) (75); VERA BAXTER OU LES PLAGES L'ATLANTIQUE (76); THE TRUCK (77); AURELIA STEINER VANCOUVER MELBOURNE (81); AGATHA (81)
 
B: Happening and not happening

The 'story' of NATHALIE GRANGER is simply a series of occurences situations that both happen and don't happen, and which are set up to convey a feeling of 'non'eventfullness'. Consider :

(1) things that happen cleaning up a table after a meal ; burning off fallen leaves and branches ; walks in the garden ; packing small suitcase ; etc. Note the extreme domesticity and mundanity conveyed in these actions which are drained of their dramatic: potential, and left to resonate solely as 'uncondensed' and anti elliptical' actions where the event is transformed into a non plot element which is nonetheless impregnated with incredible detail.
(2) things that don't happen sitting down to a piano and not playing anything ; laboriously chasing a cat to put into a carriage, only to have the cat instantly jump out ; commence ironing clothes but, stop half way; etc. Note the expectation set up by starting an action, only to halt it, cause suspense, and then not resolve the action in any way at all. The event here is, both pumped tip with importance Or significance of some sort, only to then casually dispose of that significance, by not bothering to complete the total event.

This notion of things both happening arid riot happening is worked throughout the film in a number of ways :
(a) actions and events (as indicated above)
(b) absences and presences of actresses in the frame sometimes they are left in the frame for what appears an unnecessarily long time (saying and doing nothing) while other times only a quick glimpse of their passing shadow will occur at the start of' a scene.
(c) on screen and off screen relationships to spoken dialogue sometimes whole scenes will have their dialogue totally spoken off screen, halting the speech as the character momentarily passes onto the screen ; Other times they will appear on screen for a long time and only say One or two words.
 
C: Action and description

If a plot, is about 'action' and narrative is about the desciprtion of that action, NATHALIE GRANGER is a strange mix of two things
(a) the description Of the absence of action, plus
(b) action devoid of any description as such.

As such, the action is merely something contained within a space, while its description is usually presented as silence. This accounts for many shots which appear to be filming 'nothing': doorways, hallways, pans across furniture and decor, focusing into mirrors, shooting through window frames. There is always the feeling that we are being shown something, or that we are having something pointed out to us, but exactly what we don't really know. The frequent and long silences convey through the noticeable absence of the soundtrack a certain emptiness, or sometimes even a pregnant pause as though something might happen.
 
D: Narrative thread

A variety of plot appearances or narrative threads crop tip throughout all the happenings and non happenings in the film. In no particular order, they are:
(a) Two women living together, each with a child
(b) Two children living together, each with their mother
(c) Two teenagers who have murdered many people are cornered in 'the woods' by the police
(d) One child is expelled from school
(e) One mother has to send her child off to another school, breaking up the 'family structure'
(f) A radio intermittently broadcasts the serialization of the corned teenage murderers
(g) A washing machine salesman wanders into the house
(h) A washing machine salesman returns to the house

Different cross currents and networks start to form themselves from these threads. Significance starts to suggest itself through two major thematic modes :
(1) the rationalization, explanation and justification of actions.
(2) the intrusion, interruption and encroachment of spaces and situations.