冬天的巴黎，1986-1987 Paris hiver 1986-1987

As the editor for many of the most important films of the French New Wave, including Godard’s Breathless (1960) and Rohmer’s Love in the Afternoon (1972), Cécile Decugis was intimately familiar with many of cinema’s most iconic images of Paris. She casts the locale in a new light in this miniature city symphony, part of her small but wonderful directorial oeuvre of short dramas and documentaries. Paris hiver 1986-1987 is a beautiful, minimalist evocation of daily life, shot with a handheld Super 8 film camera in the midst of a snowbound winter.
　　Even with an itinerary suggesting a touristic view of Paris sights including Les Invalides and the Grand Palais, the film is intimate and lived-in. We see the city as a neighborhood: well-maintained public spaces covered by snow; passersby hidden in coats, hats and scarves quickly trudging past the historic landmarks behind them. Decugis’ roving camera presents small glimpses of these moments, from afar and with minimal sound design – the scraping of shovels, the barks of dogs, unintelligible conversation – accompanying her images. The result is a quiet, unaffected portrait of a city which avoids the clichés of cinematic Paris to focus instead on small moments of quotidian beauty, and that builds on her experiences with éric Rohmer.