Les avatars de la mort d’Empédocle 13 years old

In the summer of 1986, Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub were working in the park of an old Sicilian mansion and in a clearing at the foot of Mount Etna shooting Der Tod des Empedokles. Assistant cameraman Jean-Paul Toraille toyed around, so to speak, with his first video camera, filming the daily work on the set. Now, 24 years later, he was joined by Jean-Marie Straub in editing the material into a film. Anyone who expected the shooting of Les Avatars de la mort d’Empédocle to be an austere affair, an exercise entirely devoid of humour or a Straubian tour de force is proven wrong: so much lightness, joy, concentration, spells of waiting for the sun to come out – and even proper slapstick in between – is hard to find.

Credits

Jean-Marie Straub as

William Berger as

Louis Hochet as

Danièle Huillet as

Renato Berta as

Les avatars de la mort d’Empédocle Cast

Name	Character
Jean-Marie Straub He was 77, now 91 years old
William Berger He was 82, 65 years old when he died
Louis Hochet He was 57, 46 years old when he died
Danièle Huillet She was 74, 70 years old when she died
Renato Berta He was 65, now 79 years old

Les avatars de la mort d’Empédocle Crew

Name	Department
Catherine Quesemand as Editor.	Editing

Les avatars de la mort d’Empédocle (13 years)

Release day: Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Runtime: 53 minutes