The Méliès Mystery (2021 TV Movie)

Costa-Gavras: Self

Quotes 

• Costa-Gavras : Méliès is an extraordinary character. He is the filmmaker who invented every possible imaginary trick, he started it all. Everything we've done since he had already done, we're only repeating it.

• Costa-Gavras : All his films are joyous. We can even analyze the audience at the time, and what they liked in Méliès's films. Psychologically and socially we can explain the audience's reaction to the gags, the stories; because, they love his stories, Méliès had a huge success.

• Costa-Gavras : The moon was everybody's romantic dream. It was a fantastic idea. Obviously, it became the biggest cinema best-seller of its time.

• Costa-Gavras : The French Cinematheque always set the tone. And other cinematheques always imitated it. Because Langlois had the extraordinary sense to say, "Let's preserve the films," as they did in England, "But, let's also show them." Films are made to be shown, thus we show them. Langlois, at the Cinematheque, had already worked a lot on Méliès. He had saved and gathered a lot of things at the Cinematheque.

• Costa-Gavras : I saw it as some sort of suicide. As his way of killing himself through his work, and his way of really protesting. There are great artists who have burnt their work. Who burnt paintings, et cetera. But this is inexplicable.

• Costa-Gavras : When Méliès became outdated, he did tricks, he did theater, amusing things. But cinema was going into a serious era. We started talking about society. Despite the "Dreyfus Affair," he wasn't able to to do what others, especially Americans, were doing. They did very important things. He did not really get it. He couldn't step out of the theater as others did.