Bluette Christin-Falaize and Nino Costantini’s (Les Films du Trident) Encyclopédie filmée stopped at the letter A, with eleven shorts that run the gamut from the traditional documentary (Avalanche, Carlos Vilardebó, Arles, a collective work) to a mix of fiction (Absence, Jean Dréville), from a Raymond Queneau conference directed by Pierre Kast (Arithmétique) to editor Léonid Azar’s film on the fascinating mechanical devices of the eighteenth century (Automate). The project seems tailored for two of Diderot’s heirs: Jean Grémillon (Alchimie) and Nicole Vedrès. Like a true encyclopedist, Vedrès first deals with the title’s word before exploring the subject, breaking down the multiple meanings of ‘Amazon’, starting with the tribe of warriors in Ancient Greece who killed their male children to the Amazon River in South America. The brilliantly edited short is entirely made up of archival material. The commentary is narrated by a woman’s voice, maybe hinting at Vedrès’ authorship, rather than the credited Alexandre Arnoux, a versatile veteran homme de lettres.

Bernard Eisenschitz