He says that he has waited a long time to make the film, that it was very complicated, very expensive. Does that mean something about the rejection of natural sets, in which studio sets were the condition of the film?
The inlay already existed on celluloid, but it was very expensive. The process consists of filming against a colored background that does not appear on film. A horrible blue or green. It is not a background fabric. What interested me about this technique is that we can enter the set, that there are perspective views, that we can go through the entrances, that we see people in the windows. What was not completely done at this time, was kinescoping, which consists of dragging the video on the film, deleting all the lines. Now, we go directly from video to film without the intermediary of a projection.
There is something very strong in the film, it is the reconstruction of sensations. Especially in the scene where the two women watch the execution of the king in the Place de la Concorde, from the top of the Meudon. Do you think we can really see and hear the death of Louis XVI from where they are?
I started from the book, where she says: Meudon is situated on a height, I have climbed to it. Heaven seemed to participate in the duel. Other people said it too, it was a particularly sinister day. It says: with a binocular, we could have seen the Place Louis XV. Currently, from Meudon, we do not see anything because there are buildings. Of the Place de Louis XV, that is to say, of the Place de la Concorde, we also see nothing. The distance is 7 km. as a bird. I have always liked precise things. We see, indeed, from the terrace of the Château de Meudon, where I have placed the scene, the Dome des Invalides, Notre-Dame, the Pantheon, and especially today the Eiffel Tower. Can we see if there is a world or not? Maybe In any case, she says, "I see blue and red." It is very vague. Can we hear something? If there was a north wind, the sounds could come through a little more clearly. The sounds that come to us are not necessarily those of Concord. It can be a kind of chain: the people listening to the gunshots, can begin to scream. That is why it is not completely unbelievable. (…)
Declarations collected by Stephane Bouquet, Patrice Blouin, Charles Tesson
Cahiers du cinéma, July-August, 2001
In order to read the full report, the site is this, where the development of the pictorial art of the incredible Eric Rohmer ends up making sense. For true moviegoers, and lovers of art in all its planes, I recommend reading the full article.