This Is the End

During the pandemic, the European filmmaker travels to Los Angeles, which is no stranger to spectacle and disaster. Under the Hollywood sign, being constantly in motion is de rigueur: never stop, never look too closely, never develop a feeling of being here. Long tracking shots from the safety of the Ford Mustang take in the city, whose shimmering surfaces reflect back to the filmmaker his own perspective, shaped by cultural criticism. The voids diagnosed by Baudrillard and Bégout, the missing connections, the meaninglessness, the end of the world which has perhaps already occurred, look surprisingly exciting through the tired eyes of the Old World: a 40-year-old love story is rekindled, love’s movements fall out of the cool flow of time, coyotes conquer the gardens, snakes swim in the pools. A chorus of actors share doomsday poems by E. E. Cummings, Ocean Vuong, Claudia Rankine and more with each other; these voices from the New World interrupt the French commentary. And two 70-plus bodies from two extinct worlds synchronise tenderly with the cinema of attractions.
by Vincent Dieutre
with Dino Koutsolioutsos, Vincent Dieutre, Eva Truffaut, Jean-Marc Barr, Nelson Bourrec Carter, Geoffrey Carey, Darrell Davis, Laurie Karp, Keja-Ho Kramer, Elina Lowensohn, Kate Moran
France 2023 English, French 108’ Colour World premiere | Documentary Form

With

  • Dino Koutsolioutsos
  • Vincent Dieutre
  • Eva Truffaut
  • Jean-Marc Barr
  • Nelson Bourrec Carter
  • Geoffrey Carey
  • Darrell Davis
  • Laurie Karp
  • Keja-Ho Kramer
  • Elina Lowensohn
  • Kate Moran

Crew

Director Vincent Dieutre
Screenplay Vincent Dieutre
Cinematography Arnold Pasquier
Editing Matthias Bouffier
Sound Design Jean-Marc Schick
Sound Romain Cadhilac
Sound Mixing Nathalie Vidal
Assistant Director Joanna Grudzinska
Texts Stéphane Bouquet, Bruce Bégout
Producer Stéphane Jourdain
Co-Producer Rasha Salti
Co-Production Fotogram Paris, Frankreich
Arte France – La Lucarne Paris, Frankreich

Produced by

La Huit Production

Vincent Dieutre

Born in Petit-Quevilly, France in 1960, he studied film. Vincent Dieutre is a director, film journalist, book editor and translator. Many of his films have been invited to the Berlinale Forum, most recently Jaurès (2012).

Filmography

1984 Une martyre; 6 min. 1985 Wiener Blut; 11 min. 1986 Arrière saison; 29 min. 1988 Lettres de Berlin; 50 min. 1995 Rome désolée; Berlinale Forum, 70 min. 2000 Leçons de ténèbres (Tenebrae Lessons / Lektionen der Finsternis); Berlinale Forum, 77 min. 2001 Entering Difference (Lettre de Chicago); 18 min. · Bonne Nouvelle; 60 min. 2003 Mon voyage d’hiver (My Winter Journey / Meine Winterreise); Berlinale Forum, 104 min. · Bologna Centrale; 61 min. 2004 Les accords d’Alba; 25 min. 2006 Fragments sur la grâce; 101 min. 2007 Después de la Revolución (After the Revolution); 55 min. 2008 Ea2: 2ème exercice d’admiration: Jean Eustache; 21 min. 2010 Toutes les étoiles tombent; 10 min. · Ea3; 45 min. 2012 Jaurès; Berlinale Forum, 83 min. 2013 Déchirés/Graves; 82 min. · Orlando Ferito – Roland Blessé (Roland Wounded); 104 min. 2015 Viaggio nella dopo-storia (Journey into Post-History); 80 min. 2016 Trilogie de nos vies défaites (Trilogy of Our Lives Undone); 81 min. 2019 Berlin Based; 91 min. 2021 Temps morts; 84 min. 2023 This Is the End; 108 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023