The film is widely regarded as structurally innovative and an example of cinéma vérité and direct cinema. The term "cinéma vérité" was suggested by the film's publicist and coined by Rouch, highlighting a connection between film and its context, otherwise referred to as reflexive documentary.[1] Brault confirmed this in an interview after a 2011 screening of Chronique d'un été at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.
The film was screened at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize.[2] In a 2014 Sight & Sound poll, film critics voted Chronicle of a Summer the sixth-best documentary film of all time.[3]
Synopsis
The film begins with Rouch and Morin discussing whether it is possible to act sincerely on camera. A cast of real-life individuals are then introduced and led by the filmmakers to discuss topics related to French society and working-class happiness. At the movie's end, the filmmakers show their subjects the footage and have them discuss the level of reality that they thought the movie achieved.