Le révélateur

The dream-like Le Révélateur follows a child and its parents who wander around an abandoned environment – perhaps they are fleeing? While the adults try to find a new equilibrium after the war with Germany, the little boy ends up in conflict with his parents (Bernadette Lafont and Laurent Terzieff).

The boy, who is innocent and naive, starts a war of independence against the family. Ultimately, he only finds freedom in solitude. He is the only one who can unlock the secret meaning of his fantasies. He is titular 'révélateur'. Révélateur is also French for the person who develops film negatives as well as meaning ‘he who reveals’.

Philippe Garrel shot his radical silent film with its high-contrast black white and steeped in a surreal atmosphere in May 1968. The filmmaker, a rebellious heir of the nouvelle vague, retreated to Germany with a small cast and crew. The Black Forest is very reminiscent of the war (some footage clearly referencing former battlegrounds), however the real conflict is generational. Threats are onmipresent in this purely avant-garde film, a labyrinth of subconscious images, dark tunnels and symbolic landscapes.

About the score

Le Révélateur is Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart) and Réka Csiszér (VÍZ) soundtrack to Philippe Garrel’s film. The eight tracks see Moumneh and Csiszér create music that’s both stark and luminous, a form of minimalism that’s simultaneously ethereal and laden with eerie presence. Wielding cello, buzuq, rababa, voices, electronics and earthy synthesizers, they move from haunting hymns atop charred strings into tenderly hypnotic instrumentals draped with rustling field recordings. Immersing us in a space where locomotion and stasis coexist, like moving through scenery both uniform and constantly changing.

Written, directed and produced by French filmmaker Garrel in 1968, the ominously silent black and white Le Révélateur takes its name from a French term used to describe developing film negatives. It follows a child and his parents roaming, perhaps fleeing, through a desolate environment. “The sober, solitary existence of the three characters really touches something in you,” Moumneh relates. “The family are on the verge of disaster but don’t get there. It’s poignant, I think all our lives can feel constantly on the edge of catastrophe without quite crossing the threshold… the film channels a malaise that feels timeless.”

“I come from a difficult childhood, my parents and I were displaced, so the idea of not having a home is very close to me,” Csiszér says. A Hungarian-Transylvanian born in East Germany, raised in Vienna, Csiszér is now based in Berlin. “For me, home is everything and nothing. I’m forever disoriented. The movie follows nomadic characters, always moving, no stillness. I can relate to that.” As a film, Le Révélateur leaves voids for the viewer to fill in themselves, to reflect upon and perhaps see a reflection of themselves.