(Une sale histoire). “Sex has nothing to do with morals, not even with aesthetics. Sex is a metaphysical affair,” Eustache said. Hence this two-part film, “a contemporary treatment of sexuality, of communication, presented in yesterday’s manner, like a philosophical discussion in a salon.” The first half, shot on 35mm, creates a sophisticated atmosphere for a sordid tale of voyeurism, told by Michael Lonsdale in the first person to a small group of friends, who discuss its implications with bemused detachment. In the second iteration (actually filmed first), shot on 16mm in a casual documentary style, the same story is presented by Jean-Noël Picq. The two pieces add up to a sly experiment in performance and the limits of credibility, as well as “a very funny rumination on sexual imagination in the age of pornographic reproduction” (Nick Pinkerton, Moving Image Source).

—Juliet Clark

• Photographed by Jacques Renard, Pierre Lhomme. With Michael Lonsdale, Jean-Noël Picq. (49 mins, Color/B&W, 35mm)

Followed by:
Alix’s Pictures (Les photos d’Alix) (Jean Eustache, France, 1980). Alix, a photographer, describes her images to Eustache’s son Boris. An “essay in the shape of a hoax,” Eustache’s last film wittily questions the relationship between showing and telling as it gradually shifts Alix’s narration out of sync with what we see. Photographed by Robert Alazraki. With Alix Cléo-Roubaud. (18 mins, Color, 16mm)

• (Total running time: 67 mins, In French with English subtitles, From MAE, permission Tamasa/Connaissance du Cinéma)