(L’hypothèse du tableau volé). A satire on the urge to define and thus control art, The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting follows a doddering art collector as he pontificates on several paintings by a great artist that he has recreated in human form in the rooms of his monstrous estate. Quizzed by a somewhat restless narrator, our collector turns his theories one way, then another, fishing for meanings in an increasingly emptying sea. On one level, Hypothesis parodies creaky intro-to-art public television shows; for Ruiz, it’s also a detective story in which the pleasure “comes not from solving the mystery, but from moving from one level of interpretation to another.” Jason Sanders
Written by Ruiz, Pierre Klossowski. Photographed by Sacha Vierny. With Jean Rougeul, Gabriel Gascon, Chantal Paley, Jean Raynaud. (66 mins, In French with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, From Jackie Raynall)
Preceded by: Dog’s Dialogue (Le colloque de chiens, Raúl Ruiz, France, 1977). For this delightful film, Ruiz took a lurid tale found in a popular press crime magazine, cut out phrases and made a new story. Richard Peña (18 mins, In French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From BFI Collections, permission Valeria Sarmiento)
Total running time: 84 mins
(In conjunction with The Library Lover: The Films of Raúl Ruiz)
The Return of a Library Lover is the title of an autobiographical short by Chilean director Ra.l Ruiz, and looking over his remarkable filmography it’s easy to see why: adaptations of Dante, Kafka, Proust, Calderón, Pierre Klossowski, Camilo Castelo Branco, and Sadegh Hedayat dot his career, while a list of citations could include Borges, Lacan, Le Petit Prince, and nineteenth-century Catholic thought—often in the same film. Intensely cerebral, his films are also highly entertaining, often hilarious, and always surprising. “The world of his movies . . . is at once soothingly, elegantly familiar and booby-trapped with surprises,” wrote A. O. Scott. “There are sudden disappearances, long-buried secrets coming to light, supernatural happenings and bizarre coincidences. In his universe, improbability is the rule.”
Born in Chile in 1941, Ruiz studied law and theology before attending film school in Argentina. Returning to Chile, he completed only a handful of works before the 1973 military coup forced him into exile in France, where he began a nearly forty-year career spanning several continents. Early successes funded by European television led to bigger budgets—by the mid-1990s Ruiz was able to work with such international stars as John Malkovich (Time Regained), Catherine Deneuve (Geneologies of a Crime), and Marcello Mastroianni (Three Lives and Only One Death).
Ruiz passed away in August of 2011, having completed one last film in his native Chile after the international success of Mysteries of Lisbon. His films embrace a “logic governed by miracles,” as he wrote, a “poetics of cinema” that remains unmatched in its freedom.
Theater Admission Prices
Single Feature
$5.50 BAM/PFA Members, UC Berkeley Students
$9.50 Adults (18-64)
$6.50 UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and retirees
Non-UC Berkeley students
Senior citizens (65 & over)
Disabled persons
Youth (17 & under
Additional Feature $4.00 All Patrons
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