We are in 1968. The Ravishing of Lol Stein - often cited as one of Duras's most beautiful and enigmatic novels - had been published just four years earlier. In front of the cameras of Chambre Noire, a French television program dedicated to photography, Duras tries to translate the tormented destiny of her character into images. Surrounded by two photographers, she directs actress Loleh Bellon, whose name inspired the central character of the work, a mysterious woman gradually descending into madness after the collapse of her relationship.

In this fascinating television piece, we witness Duras observing and directing the photographers, who in turn observe the actress embodying Lol, striving to capture a portrait faithful to the author's vision. As Duras suggests with her uniquely phrased introduction: "It's an experiment. It's a writer's experiment, above all. That is to say, I wanted to see if I could approach my inner vision… Obviously, this mental vision, this mental image that is parallel to writing, you can never, ever fully retrieve it." Thus, we witness the transformation of a complex and subtle text into a photo-novel; an adaptation that seems most fitting for a novel that continuously challenges the notion of objective reality by exploring subjectivity and individual perception.

It provides privileged access to Duras's thoughts, to her way of visually bringing to life the universe she so adeptly portrayed in writing. It represents the transition from literature to cinema that would continue to occupy the writer throughout the next decade, as she moved more seriously into filmmaking with all the intelligence and innovation for which she was known.

Jason Burnham
Tënk editorial manager