Film Forum has announced the U.S. theatrical premiere of María Álvarez’s Le Temps Perdu / El tiempo perdido, the immersive documentary follows a group of elderly literati who’ve met regularly for 20 years in a Buenos Aires café to read aloud and discuss Marcel Proust’s 3,000-page, 7-volume masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. In commemoration of the centennial of Proust’s death, the Argentine film will open on Friday, August 12 at Film Forum in New York City.
Edmund White writes: “Proust has become the premier novelist of the 20th century.” The staying power of his opus is deep and wide: Virginia Woolf swooned in admiration (“Oh if I could write like that!”); Andy Warhol and Monty Python parodied him; Alain de Botton wrote a bestseller (How Proust Can Change Your Life); and contemporary cultural icons from Tony Soprano’s therapist to Haruki Murakami reference his work.
Director Álvarez’s approach is itself Proustian in its patience and elegance, shot over four years, during which the group completes a single read of the novel. Eavesdropping on their interstitial chatter—how the novel weaves into or triggers memories from their lives—is as poignant, romantic, and enthralling as the source of their inspiration. Le Temps Perdu world premiered in IDFA’s feature-length documentary competition. It is the second part of a trilogy about art and ageing after the 2017 documentary Las cinéphilas about retired women who go to the cinema every day, and Las cercanas, which is now on development.
Watch the trailer:
