The Role of Chance

The Role of Chance

1984 · 53 min · ★ 7.4 · Documentary, Animation

"The Role of Chance" ("La part du hasard") focuses exclusively on drawing and painting techniques used by the painter Henri Dimier. Shot over several weeks in the same artist's studio, the film shows works in their different phases, processes rarely explained or little known. It also addresses many practical issues (choice of paper, pigment grinding, reports drawings, put the tiles, cliches, etc) as well as broader questions of method and inspiration (use of space, the role of contours, power of suggestion perspectives, use of random processes). Patrick Bokanowski sought with this film to restore the spirit of this teaching, showing how to bend a note or sometimes revealing an essential mystery of creation.

Directed by Patrick Bokanowski · Written by Patrick Bokanowski

Your Rating

Cast

Henri Dimier Himself

Make it a double feature

1h 59m together

The Role of Chance

The Angel

Both from Patrick Bokanowski.

More from Patrick BokanowskiSee all →

Solar Beats

Solar Beats · 2008

Walking towards the fire. In a ceaseless stream of light, people, landscapes and objects lead us to mysterious regions. French filmmaker Patrick Bokanowski’s work is hard to classify - and all the richer for it. Together with his wife Michèle, whose musique concrète compositions form the basis of the sound design, Bokanowski offers a prolonged, dense and visually visceral experience of the kind that is rare in cinema today. Difficult to define and locate, its strangeness is quite unique.

Breakfast

Breakfast · 1974

MovieAnimationHorror

Relentlessly reworking ‘real’ images, using techniques borrowed from painting and animated film, Patrick Bokanowski is an author of stature, capable of creating an insane and cataclysmic universe of unquestionable beauty.

Éclats d'Orphée

Éclats d'Orphée · 2002

Éclats d'Orphée

Film directed from the play "Orpheon", directed by François Tanguy, played by the Compagny of Raft.

The Beach

The Beach · 1992

Reworked and colored images of people playing at the seashore.

Soar

Choreography of an imaginary journey.

Un rêve

Un rêve · 2014

Experimental film by Patrick Bokanowski.

A Creator of the Imaginary: Patrick Bokanowski - Short Film

A Creator of the Imaginary: Patrick Bokanowski - Short Film · 1977

A Creator of the Imaginary: Patrick Bokanowski - Short Film

MovieDocumentary

A Creator of the Imaginary: Patrick Bokanowski

L'indomptable

L'indomptable · 2018

2018 short film by Patrick Bokanowski

Hum Drum

Hum Drum · 2021

A painter in his studio: his pencils, brushes, tubes, table, easel and drawings set themselves in motion in an explosion of colors and flashes of light.

A Creator of the Imaginary: Patrick Bokanowski - Hieroglyphs

A Creator of the Imaginary: Patrick Bokanowski - Hieroglyphs · 1975

A Creator of the Imaginary: Patrick Bokanowski - Hieroglyphs

MovieDocumentary

In his film studio, Patrick BOKANOWSKI talks about his research (audiovisual and animation techniques) for his new project ("L'Ange" which will be released in 1982). Filming scenes, and excerpts from his short film "Lunch in the morning," punctuate the interview. On a film set, Patrick BOKANOWSKI describes some scenes of his project, notably "the attack of the castle of the egg"; it evokes the influence of the painter Henri DIMIER, of which he was the apprentice, his research on photographic printing, optical systems of shooting, and objectives. - He comments on a sketch of preparation explaining the image sought, and the means implemented. - Images of the shooting of scenes of characters in the darkness and light beams, accompanied by music, punctuate the interview.

The Waking Dream

The Waking Dream · 2003

The Waking Dream

MovieDocumentary

Colette Aboulker Muscat has taught Waking Dream for the past forty years in Jerusalem. To each person who comes for a consultation, she offers a short story leading to a waking dream, equal in intensity to a night dream. The surprise provoked by the story, and the shortness of the treatment are, for her, essential aspects of the process. The mental imagery itself allows one to overcome a problem or an illness.

The Angel

The Angel · 1982

MovieAnimationFantasy

The climbing of an immense staircase made up of the most varied stairs. Symbolic scenes occur on different levels where characters seem to be prisoners of their deeds and of their own folly. The steep staircase leads little by little towards the zones of great light where human beings and nonhuman beings meet.

Le Canard à l'orange

Le Canard à l'orange · 2002

Le Canard à l'orange

A housewife is preparing a duck à l'orange in her kitchen. But the reluctant bird tries to escape from her but the woman manages to recaptures it and plucks it savagely. Once the duck is put in the oven, an alligator unexpectedly appears in the kitchen, threatening the cook.

The Woman Who Powders Herself

The Woman Who Powders Herself · 1972

The Woman Who Powders Herself

MovieFantasyHorror

A study of human anxieties about beauty, youth and objectification.

Flammes

Flammes · 1998

Memories split in the space.

Vers Syracuse

Vers Syracuse · 2020

Dreamlike sea bathing and horse rides. Colors take the plunge, the horizon blazes, breaking waves pound endlessly. A strange journey through depths of sound and vision.

More Like This

Batman: Strange Days

Batman: Strange Days · 2014

Batman: Strange Days

MovieActionAnimation

A lost tale from Batman's past, the Dark Knight tracks a strange giant to the mysterious lair of Hugo Strange.

Dante's Lunch

Dante's Lunch · 2017

MovieAnimationComedy

Every dog has his day, but poor Dante can't seem to catch a break.

Land Without Bread

Land Without Bread · 1933

Land Without Bread

MovieDocumentary

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

In a Heartbeat

In a Heartbeat · 2017

MovieAnimationComedy

A closeted boy runs the risk of being outed by his own heart after it pops out of his chest to chase down the boy of his dreams.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter