Emeric Gallego’s Short Camille, an Ode to Jean Luc Godard’s Contempt

Camille is a short film by French filmmaker Emeric Gallego. Emeric Gallego is a writer, director, and cinematographer who live and works in France. He known for Ariane (2021) and Melissa (2022) and Je suis l’amour, probablement (2018).

Camille comes from a personal experience Emeric had a few years back. Camille is a critique of the film industry’s representation of women, and the contempt they suffer at a casting session for roles in a film. “During research, I take to stories or film projects that are a suitable creative framework for experimentation. Such was the instance at an amateur casting session for actors. My position was strictly to observe the process, out of curiosity since it was my first time. Two actors (women) take turns acting out the same scene as directed by the casting director,” says Emeric.

Surprisingly, they only receive compliments based on their looks. The casting director and his assistant were men. It felt like they were trying to flirt with women at the casting. The roles available to women are generally the same and most degrading. Now, when I put out any announcements for new film projects, the descriptions of the castings are very specific. I leave nothing to chance.

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Years later, when I started making short films, that curious anecdote would feedback to my film production process. When the screenplay was finished, I had only the names of my heroines left undecided. I adapted the name Camille as an homage to the film Contempt (1963) by Jean Luc Godard, who based the film on what he was dealing with in the world of French cinema at that time. The choice of the name is also in resonance with the emblematic theme by film composer, George Delerue.

When I wrote Camille, I constantly thought of the number “2”. The need for duality became obvious because the story needed two actresses, two styles, and two ways of staging the movie. There are two stories throughout the film or two stories in one. Therefore, Camille is two films in one! It is a film designed like the casting test videos.

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Taking on the look of an amateur documentary, we find all the characteristics of filming tests: similar image and sound quality. This amateur style is a pretext for Camille to expose perverts and fake castings. In the film, the director and his cameraman don’t care for actresses. They imagine them as live dolls that we admire for their bodies, fantasy, outfits, and their delicateness. Actresses are filmed for their looks: faces, breasts, buttocks, etc. They are forced to smile in discomfort. They are forced to behave like desirable characters.

However, behind the criticism lies a true feminist theme, a “monologue” on the place of women in the film industry, the strength of a role, and the desire to become an actress. “I always knew I wanted to be an actress,” says one. As the monologue progresses, the audience witnesses a powerful testimony. We are put in a situation of an actress, being the victim through the cinematic and poetic staging of the fake film behind Camille.

Camille exists only for actresses and for all those who continue to fight to make their dreams come true.

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