Thoughts on a screening of Professor Chloé Barreau’s documentary Fragments of a Life Loved.

Review

By Marouso Pappas / Matthew staff | Edited by Lucie Ruggiero 

On March 28, I had the pleasure to attend a screening at Spazio Scena hosted by JCU’s Communication Department: Professor Chloé Barreau’s acclaimed documentary Fragments of a Life Loved (Frammenti di un Percorso Amoroso). 

Professor Barreau presented her film at the Venice Film Festival Giornate degli Autori, where it received much praise for tackling the intricate concept of love through the documentary format. After viewing the trailer, and knowing about Professor Barreau’s Promotional Video course, I was particularly excited to view the film as I found it a daring feat myself. The documentary, composed of interviews and archival footage that Professor Barreau as the director has been acquiring over the past 30 years, follows Barreau’s relationships by different documentations of memory, from person to person and place to place. It is a particularly intimate reconstruction of her life as it puts her lovers at the forefront of the storytelling. Other than the clear first-hand footage of the people we meet throughout the film, Barreau remains but a ghost, a force of energy that ties all these strangers together. 

As we all bustled into the screening room, looking around told me that this would be a different kind of experience for both us and the director. Professor Barreau herself admitted being intimidated by all the familiar faces in the room. But I believe that for us as a particular audience, having Barreau in the room with us really enhanced the experience. The film takes place between Paris and Rome and covers several decades of both lively cities. Considering that a significant part of her narrative took place in the transitional years of university and post-university life, I think it particularly spoke to us students, dwellers of dual worlds, that of Rome and the other.

Viewing these love lives lived and love lives lost described so beautifully by the interviewees, it really gives a young person hope for the universal path of love as an experience that is not necessarily tied to a singular person or location. Of course, we were shown that heartbreak itself also remains a very real part of this journey; however, viewing these fragments as components of the whole, which is the love that the Barreau before us carries with her, can be reassuring. 

In the Q&A section that followed the screening, Professor Barreau defined the film as essentially an epistolary non-fiction composed in a literarily linear fashion to present a dual narrative, that of her love life from the ages of 16 onwards and the development of an unaware filmmaker. The film’s form deviates from what we consider a traditional documentary, the fast editing and layering of voice and music make it a dynamic viewing experience that, as the director intended, keeps you hooked until the end.  

Her characterization as an archivist was particularly interesting to me, as I was envious of the commitment she kept to, religiously filming even the seemingly mundane for such a long period of her life. It goes to show how what she initially discarded as an almost “fetishist” hobby, developed into her art and career later on.  

Now, with the film available for streaming on Amazon Prime, audiences beyond the screening room can delve into Barreau’s captivating exploration of love and self-discovery. I urge you to watch Fragments of a Life Loved as it stands testament to the power of storytelling and the enduring nature of human connection. 

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