Le Centre Pompidou &... Richard Linklater

Few filmmakers straddle the line between mainstream appeal and experimentation, inventing within popular forms. Born in 1960 in Texas, where he still resides, Richard Linklater, a passionate cinephile and self-taught filmmaker, is one of them. Since the mid-1980s, he has worked across all genres and economies, developing his own projects (such as Slacker, 1991; the Before trilogy, 1995-2013), while occasionally collaborating with Hollywood (School of Rock, 2003; A Scanner Darkly, 2006).

In 2014, his film Boyhood, which followed a boy growing up and his family aging over the course of twelve years of filming — a unique endeavor in cinema history — earned him a shower of awards (including the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival). These days, the Texan is in Paris shooting Nouvelle Vague, a low-budget film paying homage to French pioneers from Godard to Truffaut. Richard Linklater says, "The late 1950s and early 1960s were truly exciting times. French filmmakers were the most stylish, inventive, and radical! With my movie, I'm trying to capture the initial excitement of cinema, that spirit of pure novelty, freshness, spontaneity that prevailed at the time, when cinema was a means of personal expression, not a tool for commercial storytelling." A meeting with an art enthusiast.

“I first heard of the Pompidou when it opened in the seventies. I was in high school, and I saw some images of it in the papers. I remember people complaining about how ugly it was! Just yesterday, I got into a discussion at lunch with one of my young cast members. I was saying how much I loved the building, how radical I thought it was, and they didn’t agree at all! Isn’t that funny? Almost fifty years later, people are still arguing about the Pompidou. I’ll never forget when I first got to Paris, almost thirty years ago. I went straight to the Pompidou, and it was mind-blowing. I’ve seen a lot of museums designed by Renzo Piano over the years. There is one in my hometown of Houston, Texas, called the Menil Collection, on the same block as the Rothko Chapel. It is a small but wonderful museum, voted continually as one of the top architectural masterpieces. I sit in awe of the great architects.
 

I’ll never forget when I first got to Paris, almost thirty years ago. I went straight to the Pompidou, and it was mind-blowing.

Richard Linklater

I was at the Pompidou recently, looking at a big work by an artist called Ben; just a beautiful collage of material, stuff that on its own probably wouldn’t have much value in the world, but when you put them all together it finds a shape and form and takes on  another meaning… I think the Pompidou as a building fits that description. From the surface it’s just industrial material, air conditioning ducts, wiring, glass, structural support, but of course it’s a huge art object in itself. The thrill of the “caterpillar escalator” never goes away, and the changing view of Paris is fantastic. What I appreciate at the Pompidou is the slow gradation until you get to the rooftop, it’s very cinematic. I also like the aesthetics of just walking around. It feels like a new experience every time.

Dominique de Menil and her husband John changed the cultural landscape of Houston. They were from Paris, and had a lot of Yves Klein paintings in their collection, which I saw at that museum. One of my favourite works of art at the Pompidou is L’arbre, grande éponge bleue, by Klein. Is it a tree? Is it brain? I like to visit and just stand and stare at it. It is great to be around a 3D Yves Klein like that. It is maybe the ultimate piece of his, in my opinion.

What I appreciate at the Pompidou is the slow gradation until you get to the rooftop, it’s very cinematic. I also like the aesthetics of just walking around. It feels like a new experience every time.

Richard Linklater

When I got to the Pompidou for my retrospective in 2019, a small group of us got a private tour of the big Francis Bacon exhibition that was up at the time. Unforgettable  — to have the museum to ourselves and spend time alone with those Bacon paintings… one of my kids still describes it as the most impactful afternoon of their life. Very special —  something that happens so rarely in a lifetime! ◼