Michelle Porte

Abstract

Film Quarterly contributing editor and Paris correspondent Joan Dupont introduces readers to the films of Michelle Porte, a French director best known for her intimate portraits of writers, actors, and filmmakers. The focus of a retrospective at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris in 2018, Porte’s films offer remarkable access to the private worlds of their subjects, including Virginia Woolf (1981) and Françoise Sagan (1996). Porte is best known, however, for her long association with the celebrated author, playwright, and filmmaker Marguerite Duras. Following their first meeting in 1966 on the set of Duras’ first film, La musica, Porte became Duras’ frequent collaborator, all the while gathering material for her own film, Les lieux de Marguerite Duras (1976). Dupont’s wide-ranging interview with Porte offers insight into the French televisual landscape that supported Porte’s films as well as into her oeuvre and relationship with Duras.