Documentaries 50/60

PETITE SUITE POUR JARDINS (Small suite for gardens)

Georges RÈGNIER
1960
Version : French, English, Spanish, German, Italian
Duration : 21'
Format : 35 mm.
Colors
Scriptwriter : Georges REGNIER
Producer : ARMOR Films - Fred ORAIN
Country France
With Edith ZETLINE, Gabriel BRULÉ
Music Direction de Maurice FLEURET
Picture Lucien JOULIN
Stage set Versailles and Villandry castles
Prize list - Sélectionné au XVII° Festival International du Film - Edinburg - 1961 - Sélectionné au V° Festival Internacional de Cine Documental y Experimental - Montevidéo - 1962 - Sélectionné à l'ICES - Rome - Diplôme d'Honneur aux Rencontres du Film pour la Jeunesse - Cannes - Juillet 1962
Archive footage - Woman in 15th century costume walking in the garden of a château in Périgord,
- Couple from the 16th century at the Château de Villandry,
- View of the garden at Versailles with its fountains,
- 17th century woman in the garden of Versailles leaving a note next to a statue and a man reading it,
- Couple from the 18th century near the Pavillon de Musique at Versailles and at the Jardins de Bagatelle,
- Couple from the 19th century in the garden of Châly near a river,
- Couple from the early 20th century in the garden of a villa on the Côte d'Azur.

“Where are you taking me?” “I propose a walk through the gardens”. The film will be this walk, full of fantasy, by a young couple, taking place in space and time. In the setting of some of our most beautiful parks, or gardens richest in memories, our walkers play hide-and-seek with time, dressing up for a few moments in the finery of those who once dreamt in these places. It’s not just fantasy, because gardens are linked to ways of living, thinking and feeling. The film attempts to rediscover what gives time its colour. The flowerbeds of Lenôtre line up, the marbles of Versailles recite verses by Racine, Trianon recalls Watteau, the paths of Ermenonville borrow from Gérard de Nerval… The walk comes to an end. Today is already tumultuous and worrying. Is there still a place for the garden in this century’s civilisation ?