My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud

My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud (French: En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud) is a 1993 French film, directed by Gérard Mordillat. It is based on Jacques Prevel's 1974 novel of the same name. It follows Prevel's journal of a two-year friendship with Antonin Artaud until his death in 1948[1]

My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud
Directed byGérard Mordillat
Produced byDenis Freyd
Written byGérard Mordillat
Jérôme Prieur
Based onEn compagnie d'Antonin Artaud (1974)
by Jacques Prevel
StarringSami Frey
Marc Barbé
Music byJean-Claude Petit
CinematographyFrançois Catonné
Edited bySophie Rouffio
Distributed byLeisure Time Features
Release date
  • February 23, 1993 (1993-02-23) (France)
Running time
90 minutes
Country France
LanguageFrench

Plot

After nine years of being locked up, Antonin Artaud (Sami Frey) is released from the asylum at Rodez, and returns to Paris with his friends. One of his friends, Jacques Prevel (Marc Barbé) is a young poet, and follows Artaud in his wanders between the nursing home at Ivry and Saint Germain-des-Prés, while pursuing the same quest for poetry, drugs, and the absolute. Prevel becomes a disciple, pusher, and companion toward Artaud, whose story he relates in a chronicle that leads up to his death two years later. In post-war Paris where he lives sometimes in misery and suffering, Prevel shares his life between two women, Rolande (Valérie Jeannet) and Jany (Julie Jézéquel), while at the same time continuing his attachment to Antonin Artaud, the man who is his only friend.

Cast

Awards
AwardCategoryNomineeResult
Biarritz International Festival of Audiovisual ProgrammingFiction: ActorSami FreyWon
Namur International Festival of French-Speaking FilmBest ActorSami FreyWon
Best Artistic ContributionGérard MordillatWon

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 6.9/10 from 6 reviews and 83% on the tomatometer.[2]

Emanuel Levy from Variety Film Reviews praised Sami Frey's performance in the film "Sami Frey gives such an astonishingly intense performance that his portrait of the genius and madness of the famed French poet/intellectual is far more insightful than that offered in the current documentary"[3]

Washington Post also praises Frey's spectacular performance, comparing him to Marlon Brando[4]

References
  1. Holden, Stephen (1995-07-19). "My Life and Times With Antonin Artaud (1994)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  2. "My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud (En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud) (1994)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  3. Levy, Emanuel (1994-10-09). "My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud". Variety Film Reviews. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  4. Hinson, Hal (1995-10-13). "My Life and Times With Antonin Artaud". Washington Post. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
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