Toulouse: Fernando Arrabal enchants the Cinémathèque and the Cave-Poésie
Invited this Wednesday evening of the Cinémathèque de Toulouse and the Cave-Poésie, Fernando Arrabal remembers his surrealist friends. It also pays tribute to Juliette Gréco. Reporting.
He arrived on time, daisy glasses on his nose, a very flowery backpack and an outfit adorned with various patterns. Invited by the Cinémathèque, Fernando Arrabal was yesterday in Toulouse for 24 hours, to follow the progress of the restoration of his film “Viva la muerte”, released in 1971. “He validated and was enthusiastic about this first stage of work, specifies Francesca Bozano, director of the collections of the Cinémathèque. He was also very moved ”. It should be remembered that “Viva la muerte” was his first film, whose partly autobiographical story recounts the tragic episode of Francoism which remains for him, a personal tragedy: “Viva la muerte” is an essential film for me. I like its freshness, its highly worked spontaneity. There is a lot of me in it. The public is not mistaken. Decades later, he remains one of his favorites ”.
Having come to Toulouse a few years ago, Fernando Arrabal always feels an immense pleasure to come back: “Here, the Grenier Théâtre has staged all my plays with success,” he recalls. Today, I discovered the Cinémathèque, this magical place of protection of the 7th art. This library and all its works on surrealism enchant me. I even took a picture of it ”.
In the evening, Fernando Arrabal was also the host of the Cave-Poésie for a meeting with the public: “It is also a first for us, underlines Clémentine Pons, in charge of the communication. How can we not welcome this multidisciplinary artist who is still so curious about life? “.
Humility and recognition
But the big business of Fernando Arrabal, 89, poet, novelist, essayist, playwright and filmmaker from Spain, remains surrealism. The one who has directed seven feature films, who has published a hundred plays, fourteen novels, eight hundred books of poetry, several essays, not to mention the famous Letter to General Franco during the dictator’s lifetime and whose work is recognized all over the world, also rubbed shoulders with the great names of surrealism, including Roland Topor with whom he founded the movement Panic. He also likes to relate, always with kindness, anecdotes about each other: “Topor was for me the most brilliant personality that I have met,” he assures us. One day, seated next to me, he asked me where were “the toilets” and disappeared. Just to avoid joining the group of surrealists, created by André Breton. It like this, Roland Topor was surprising. I miss him so much “.
He also remembers Andy Warhol, “a character to know to appreciate him. A man who went to mass every day, simply in memory of his very practicing mother ”.
Fernando Arrabal, a humble artist who has never ceased to pay tribute to each other, wondering about the reason for his recognition. An artist “who does not look at his wrinkles or his white hair” and who signs the film “Julie”, in tribute to Juliette Gréco. An unexpected artist who concludes the interview by telling you “Sleep well”.