L'ÉLÈVE

Film presented by CARLO VARINI

L’élève, taken from a story of the same name by Henry James, brings together a private tutor and a boy who lives in a castle with his aristocratic family, fallen on hard times and nostalgically attached to their past. Until the tutor arrives the boy, a brilliant Latin student, is lonely and without friends. When their precarious finances force the family to leave their ancestral home forever, the bond and complicity between teacher and child is strengthened and grows deeper.
«At the end of the 19th century interiors were overly embellished with draperies and veils, with bibelots and lamps; for a director of photography this is a great source of inspiration. To create a certain ‘realism’ and the world of Henry James, Olivier Schatzky and I looked at period photographs and paintings. Among these, artist James Tissot especially inspired us. I tried to respect the spirit of the age, giving the impression of having lit the sets by means of their swathed light-sources: daylight enters the salons only through a succession of curtains and veils, creating shadowy areas where the imagination can be freed. The flames of the fire and candles cast a vibrant light into the disquieting shadows and bring warmth. The fierce debate of the times on urban lighting, with some in favour of gas and others of the new electricity, «illuminated» me about the spirit of the age. Thanks to long preparation with Olivier, I was able to perfect unusual effects: in particular, the effect of the fireplace flame, and the fields/counter-fields filmed through a semi-reflecting mirror in order to capture the glance of the actor in the lens without giving the impression of a glance into the camera. Finally, the cinemascope format enabled us to express the richness and abundance of objects in the room without compromising the intimacy of the story». (Carlo Varini)

Carlo Varini

Born in Ascona in 1946, after attending the Canton Higher Business School in Bellinzona he studied lighting in the Schwarz-Filmtechnik GmbH cinematographic laboratory in Ostermundigen (Bern). In 1969 he received a diploma as assistant cameraman from the Filmarbeitskurs III-69 of the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. Afterwards he worked as a cameraman-reporter for the Cine Giornale Svizzero, before becoming assistant cameraman and then cameraman for Andreas Demmer, Hans Liechti, Robert Alazraki, Bernard Lutic, Jean-Yves Escoffier and, above all, Renato Berta, with whom he has shot over twenty feature films. In 1981 he filmed his first feature film as directory of photography: Matlosa, directed by Villi Hermann.