Festival

Jean Seberg, American Actress

 (Docu -- Swiss-German)

By DAVID ROONEY

A Dubini Filmproduktion (Cologne)/Tre Valli Filmproduktion (Zurich) production. Produced, directed, written, edited by Fosco and Donatello Dubini.
 
(German, French and English dialogue)
 

Swiss filmmaking duo Fosco and Donatello Dubini, whose "Ludwig 1881" played the fest circuit in 1993, focus on the tragic troubled star of "Breathless" in "Jean Seberg, American Actress." One of two feature-length docus on the subject premiering in Locarno, the Dubini brothers' take on the material is entirely more conventional than Mark Rappaport's in "From the Journals of Jean Seberg," but this solidly assembled, well-researched analysis should slot in like clockwork in festival and public TV lineups.

The great number of important figures absent among interviewees hints at problems of access, but despite that, this engrossing account of Seberg's short life and bumpy career ride provides illuminating information on several areas, most notably her small-town Iowa origins, the invasion of the FBI into her life and the cloudy circumstances surrounding her apparent suicide.

Film concentrates on key films in Seberg's career, beginning with her screen test for "Saint Joan" and the tough time she endured on the set with Fuhrer-like director Otto Preminger. Taking in the similarly ill-fated Preminger pic "Bonjour Tristesse," docu moves on to examine her recruitment by Jean-Luc Godard for "Breathless," which turned her into the cinephile's pinup girl.

The Hollywood forays that followed, such as "Lilith,""A Fine Madness,""Paint Your Wagon" and "Airport," are touched on somewhat perfunctorily, as are her Euro screen outings, including those directed by her second husband, Romain Gary.

The Dubini brothers' interests appear to lie more in exploring the Seberg mystique. This at times seems to awe them into the reverential pursuit of trivia , particularly as they tour the white-bread suburbs of her native Marshalltown, gathering impressions of the girl next door catapulted to stardom.

The revelation by the local moviehouse manager that Seberg's Euro pics were shunned for their nudity while her U.S. efforts became popular programmers may be quirky and amusing, but it fails to substitute for interviews with Godard, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Seberg's son, Diego Gary, or her American co-stars, all of whom the film seems to cry out for.

Investigation of the actress's political activity is considerably more enlightening, springboarding from a onetime agent's admission that he preferred to know nothing about her dealings with the Black Panthers and his dismissal of the notion that her career was damaged by this connection. A former Panthers leader recounts Seberg's financingof various community service programs, acknowledging that a small amount of that money went into buying arms. As a result, the FBI branded Seberg as a gun merchant and placed her under constant surveillance.

Various FBI documents are shown, including wiretap transcripts. Seberg's ex-bodyguard relates her traumatized retreat to Switzerland following damaging attacks in the press and a nervous breakdown, and details the FBI's pursuit of her and the monitoring of her Swiss hotel. Following her Panthers involvement, the actress also became active in Native American issues.

Talking to friends and associates from Seberg's final years, the Dubinis follow her downslide into alcohol, drugs and increasing paranoia, probably resulting from the pressures of FBI and press attention. After rehearsing her suicide onscreen in Philippe Garrel's "Les Hautes solitudes" and seeing it interpreted by Romy Schneider in Costa-Gavras'"Clair de Femme" (written by Gary) , Seberg seemingly elected to follow with the real thing.

In 1979, the actress disappeared in her car and was found dead 10 days later in the back seat. Loose ends in the suicide verdict are brought to light, however, suggesting that Seberg's death may in fact have been accidental, and that her car and body were later dumped by someone not wishing to be involved.

The docu is a little short on clips from all but a handful of Seberg's Euro features, but the Dubinis have collected on-set footage, still photographs and other documents. Subjects willing to go on record are for the most part peripheral figures in Seberg's life, but the net result is nonetheless a fascinating, level-headed summation.

Camera (color), Donatello Dubini; music, Martial Solal; sound, Matthias Kunkel. Reviewed at Locarno Film Festival (Cinema/cinemas), Aug. 10, 1995. Running time: 82 MIN.