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On Tuesday, October 21, French Academy Award winning-filmmaker Michel Gondry honored the Hammer Museum in Westwood, Los Angeles with his presence. Gondry is known for his experimental music videos with Björk, The White Stripes or Daft Punk, as well as for his films Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep or his latest work, Be Kind Rewind. Hammer invited the artist to talk about his recently published book You’ll Like This Film Because You’re In It: The Be Kind Rewind Protocol and to discuss his own conceptual and technical approach.

This was the perfect occasion for LA’s hipster crowd to sport their “unique” vintage style, look pretentious, and to– needless to say – network. Thus, Gondry’s devotees lined up in hundreds to worship the #68 of Stuff White People Like and killed time sipping Fair Trade latte-to-go and trying to reach a FOAF on their iPhones to get into the museum without waiting in the line. Actually, if you wanted to see Gondry himself in person, you should have arrived at least three hours before; otherwise you had to be content to seat yourself in the telecast room (like me). At least you could feel a little cooler for arriving nonchalantly in the early evening… or not.

Gondry turned out to be a pretty entertaining interlocutor, unlike his awful interviewer who, by the way, worked for USA Today (sic!). He seemed to have attended a workshop called “How to interview an artsy French guy”, according to his terribly unfunny remarks. For instance, after showing the extraordinarily beautiful music video of Mad World by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules, apparently shot in wintry Brooklyn, he asked Gondry: “So, tell me about this shoot. I bet it was cold, huh?” being the only one laughing about this, err… joke. Overall, the USA Today contributor was dreadfully stiff and inflexible, and he couldn’t keep up with Gondry’s quick wit and charming quirkiness. However, Mr. USA Today had his funny moment when he couldn’t stop coughing after choking on his water, even when the next video had started, and it didn’t cross his mind to remove the microphone.

Explaining his work on Be Kind Rewind, the French director and screenwriter mentioned his tendency to “induce chaos” and create “those Ed Wood situations” in order to “make things smooth”. He explained how he would deliberately do unpredictable things on set to unsettle the actors and to make them less focused on their own performance. Gondry criticized American actors, interestingly enough, especially the male ones, for paying so much attention to their appearance on screen. A little imperfection doesn’t hurt. Yet, “as a director, you have to constantly pretend to know what you’re doing”, he added.

Since an estimated 90 percent of the audience were likely to be Björk-lovers, they showed the music video of Declare Independence and Gondry talked about his collaboration with the, let’s say, headstrong Icelandic artist. Though the musician is infamous for her resoluteness and considerable intransigence, Gondry assured that he enjoyed working with Björk and that he admires how “hardcore” she is. Moreover, they share a contempt for potheads: “Björk and I, we hate pot smokers.” He further complained about his weed-smoking friends who want to convince him of their habit : “I don’t wanna do it and then I get upset!” It would have been interesting to know how many in the audience agreed with him in that respect. Contrary to many people’s belief that his work is heavily influenced by substantial drug use, Gondry also added that he couldn’t have shot that video in two days if he had been on drugs.

Despite their slight irritation concerning the filmmaker’s disdain for drugs (we’re still in California), the crowd was predictably pleased with Gondry’s criticism of American corporate capitalism. He uttered his doubts concerning working with film distributors or publishers as they always try to imitate his style in terms of the production of album art, posters, and other pop culture items. When asked about the White Stripes’ appearance on The Simpsons – where Bart ‘battles’ Meg and Jack White in a scene referencing Gondry’s The Hardest Button to Button video – the director said he was flattered and tried to use that footage for his DVD, but they wouldn’t let him. With a lot of French drama, he exclaimed: “Tell me, how fair is that?”

The last question was asked by a guy in the audience who had attentively noted that Gondry’s work was influenced by dreams and who wanted to know whether the artist ever has lucid dreams. Gondry’s priceless answer: “Yeah… but I have to admit, it’s always about disgusting sex.”

By Melanie A. Wolske