THE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE (La société du spectacle)

Director: Written, directed and narrated by Guy Dubord.

1974, France, 88

Screenwriter: Editor: Martine Barraqué-Curie.

 

It’s no surprise that after the voices for change in the 1960s that French films would find new techniques to tell us new stories. Writer and filmmaker Guy Dubord released this invigoratingly experimental movie six years after the publication of his book, The Society of the Spectacle. Dubord used the technique of ‘détournement’ hijacking images of the capitalist system to use against itself. The recently restored 2K DCP is a dizzying array of images of Hollywood movies, advertising, war, and protests crushed by the police. The result is an organized chaos that provides a devastating look at a world that remains dominated by image and power.

“It isn’t put together to go down easily, but it rarely ceases to be stimulating…a priceless document.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader.