Nadja in Paris (1964) - full transcript

NADJA in PARIS

I live at the Cit? Universitaire, Germany House.

I'm American and Yugoslavian,

born in Belgrade and American by adoption.

The Cit? reminds me of the universities
in the U.S.

It's the same relaxed atmosphere.

Another difference is that
there are people here from all over the world.

The lawns aren't off-limits,
which is rare in France.

One can walk and sit there.

The park is large,
and spaces have been reserved for playing fields

and tennis courts.



I don't play any sports myself.

Except running. Well, I run.

The danger is that we're so comfortable
that we don't feel like leaving.

Everything I need for work
or leisure is within my reach.

There are many distractions: concerts, movies.

CITE THEATRE
The DIABOLICAL DR MABUSE

So, it's understood, you wait until she...

Every house has its own theatre company.

This one is practising a piece by Lope de Vega.

Go play the other part.

- I told you to wait for his answer.
- Let's do it again.

One metro line takes me to the Latin Quarter
in five minutes.

I'm preparing a thesis on Proust.

It's the official reason for my stay in France.



But this sort of work
leaves me a lot of freedom in organising my time.

In fact, my visits to the Sorbonne
are short and infrequent.

Before returning to the Cit?, I like to take a stroll
along the old roads of the Left Bank,

full of boutiques, antique stores and bookstores.

But now that I think about it...

What strikes me in France
are the outdoor book displays.

One can flip through them
and even read entire pages in peace.

Then I go and sit on a caf? terrace.

We haven't seen each other in a long time.

The French like to stay there for hours.

I don't, but even so, sometimes I do anyway.

- I'm staying anyway.
- Yes, but since he has to meet someone...

- Was this for you?
- Yes, thank you.

I have no specific purpose. I just sit.

I'm not waiting for anyone.

I just feel like being there.

I don't read, I watch.

I watch the street.

The way people walk, the way they watch.

I'm not doing anything. I don't know if I'll
be here next year. I'd like to work, but...

So you're skilled in this profession
and nothing else.

People either like a painter or they don't...

I know Saint-Germain-des-Pr?s well.

Yes, we do what we want,
but it doesn't mean that a painter has a great...

It's even the first Paris neighbourhood
that attracted me

upon my arrival in France.

I suppose that it's become much more bourgeois
since Gr?co's time,

but one can find
an interesting array of faces there.

I'm more comfortable in Montparnasse.

The spot is plain, but the people are friendly.

People go there to talk and not to chat.

A sort of intimacy is formed immediately.

That is how I made many friends

amongst the bohemians, painters, writers,
Parisian or foreign.

You can spend entire nights discussing things.

The people I hang out with
are generally older than me

and removed from the little preoccupations
of student life.

They are the ones who initiated me
into modern art.

For me, who stayed in Picasso's Blue Period,

it's a bit over my head.

I'm curious about all theories,

but in the end, they didn't really influence me.

I go straight towards what I like.
I leave the rest to the others.

And then, I get the impression
that there are things

that I will never be able to take seriously.

But all of these people from Saint-Germain
and Montparnasse,

different as they are,
are part of the same universe.

I often feel the need to distance myself
from them

and get out of the narrow area
of intellectual Paris.

I knew there was a park at the far end of Paris.

I went there one day by myself
and I come back sometimes.

It's the Buttes Chaumont.

I like this place because it's deserted and wild.

I know these rivers are artificial

and these rocks are made of cement,
but that doesn't matter.

The working-class neighbourhood
of Belleville is near there.

I began exploring it,
and I spend entire days there.

When I get hungry, I go into a pastry shop.

I would like this one.

What is it called?

- Brik.
- No, she left alone with him.

- She says she's going alone.
- Thank you.

- How much is it?
- Sixty, miss.

What has always surprised me about the French
is the importance they place on food.

At noon, you have to eat.

One day I heard a student spend five minutes

describing to one of his friends

the wonderful steak that he had been served
the day before at a restaurant.

Markets attract me.

Usually, one only finds older people there.

This Paris is disdained because it's not historic.

I love its faded signs,

AT THE CITY OF LIMOGES

the small squares with their trees.

This old woman comes every day
at the same time,

sits on the same bench,

to read a torn newspaper gathered
from some garbage can.

- Hello.
- Hello.

That's no good. It's bad for the liver.

- You shouldn't.
- I'm used to it.

- It doesn't bother me.
- Me, neither. It doesn't bother me.

Sometimes a sudden downpour forces me to stay.

Hey. Come back later.

My wife will be here with my four kids.
Sunday, you don't work Sundays.

- This Sunday?
- I live next door.

It's fun.

So, are you coming?

People know I'm a foreigner, but they accept me.

They don't view me as an intruder.

I discovered a world without problems,

simpler, more characteristic of France.

Its existence has helped me a lot

by distancing me
from everything that was superficial in my life.

What characterises Paris is its wide variety.

One can easily move
from one environment to another.

It's a truly open city.

And, finally, it teaches you more about yourself
than you learn about it.

Of course, I have no intention of staying here,

but I'd like to never lose sight of Paris.

My stay here will have marked me.

It's normal, since it coincides

with possibly the most important
period of your life,

the one during which you separate yourself
from influences

and your personality is shaped.