Realism and Psychoanalysis in Pierre Baudry

Abstract

This chapter highlights one of the more obscure critics of the post-1968 Cahiers du cinéma: Pierre Baudry. Although he only wrote for the journal for three years, quitting after its conversion to Maoism, his articles during this time attest to a theoretical precocity and critical acuity, which manifested themselves in articles including “Sur le réalisme,” “Figuratif, matériel, excrementel” and “L’Idéologie du western italien.” After departing Cahiers, Baudry made abortive attempts to become a director but only truly found his footing in his involvement in the Ateliers Varan filmmaking workshop and as editor of the journal La Revue documentaires, where he pursued his line of thinking on the question of realism in the cinema.