“Le Charcutier filmmaker”, on France 3: a tender family portrait

FRANCE 3 BOURGOGNE-FRANCHE-COMTÉ – THURSDAY OCTOBER 6 AT 10.50 P.M. – DOCUMENTARY

We must both thank France 3 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté for programming The butcher filmmaker (2022) and wondering why the parent company does not think this new documentary by Remy Batteault worthy of national distribution, whose finesse and deliciously piquant humor hit the bull’s eye in the portrait he paints of a father in the unique destiny.

Roger Batteault was for fifty years, with his wife Josette – the famous duo “Ro-sette”, he in the “laboratory”, she in the shop – the owner of a renowned charcuterie in Beaune (Côte-d’Or), where you could find an exceptional rosette and marbled ham from behind the barrels. The Batteault son and daughter not having the soul of a delicatessen – a great regret which still makes the parents sigh – the trade, in 2003, passed into other hands.

But Roger Batteault had long been keen on super-8 and had perfected his skills in the art of editing. “My first real film was about parsley ham”, he says facing the camera of his son, who has become a professional in the filmed thing, initiated by his father. But the latter quickly escapes from his professional setting by going to shoot in the fields and gardens, observing the flowers and insects that land there, with a magnificent vintage Beaulieu camera, whose telephoto lens gives him the proportions and profile of a 1927 Bugatti Royale Type 41.

International mascot

His short films, with succulent texture and exquisite slowness, hit the world of festivals, of which Roger Batteault became the international mascot, from Cannes to Rio via London, where the Straight Eight festival invited him for his 20e editing. And the cinematographic trophies have joined the cuts of delicatessen competitions on the shelves.

The way in which Remy Batteault films is reminiscent of the odds and ends fantasy, unceremonious but so elegant and fine, of Agnès Varda – a spiritual heritage to which he readily claims. Moreover, Agnès Varda appears in The butcher filmmakerthrough an excerpt from his documentary Two years later (2003): we see the director visiting the Batteault charcuterie and leaving with Roger’s competition rosettes (twelve times won) under her arm.

Beyond the affectionate tribute to the father, Remy Batteault draws a family portrait in which her mother has her place: Josette manages her husband’s second career, embodies the voice-over narrators of his films (all recorded in Roger’s studio-workshop-garage) and accompanies him wherever the festivals lead him.

gymnastics for the brain

We first wonder why Josette is filmed for quite a long time while she is seated in front of a sudoku. Then we understand. It’s about gymnastics for the brain, days with, and days without, those where “the brain is a little on vacation”, as it is modestly said. Later, it’s a visit to a clinician…

The latter, by having Josette comment on old photos, endeavors to stimulate a memory from which, now, slices of past life are sometimes evaded. As with everything else in this wonderful film – which lovingly portrays “the family without familialism”, as Roland Barthes said of his own – it’s said without seeming to touch it. And that’s why it affects so much.

The butcher filmmaker, by Remy Batteault (Fr., 2022, 52 min). Available on France.tv from October 7.

“Le Charcutier filmmaker”, on France 3: a tender family portrait