French actress Jean Seberg did not live past the age of 40; she died by her own hand in 1979. In Director Mark Rappaport's 1995 documentary, "From the Journals of Jean Seberg," the film icon of the 1950s and 1960s narrates her own life story from beyond the grave.
In the film, which will be shown in the Loew Theatre Thursday, actress Mary Beth Hurt presents a powerful reflection of how Seberg might look and what she might say today if she had lived.
"Seberg" solemnly reflects upon her oft-troubled life and her unfulfilled film career, as black-and-white clips from her past performances flicker across the screen.
But "From the Journals of Jean Seberg" examines Seberg's life and her film career in a political context, all the while examining the people and events that surrounded her in the larger context of film history.
As "Seberg" says in the documentary, "Film history is a very, very long gossip column. Everyone was just a wedding ring or a bed away from everyone else."
Jean Seberg burst upon the movie scene in 1957 by winning the leading role in Otto Preminger's "Saint Joan" through a much publicized talent-search. Her role as Joan of Arc made Seberg a household name. "Seberg" says of this period, "'People Magazine' didn't exist then ... But if it did, I would have been on the cover."
Seberg secured her position as a European icon at the age of 20 with Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless," but soon thereafter, her life would unravel.
She would become more famous for her off-the-screen activities than for her acting. She continued to make films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, her most famous being "Airport" (1970), which drew more crowds than all her previous films combined.
However, Seberg's most important drama took place off the screen. Just as contemporaries Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave participated in the social upheavals of the 1960s, so did Seberg, who became an ardent supporter of the Black Panthers.
Seberg says in the film, "Stars felt compelled to use their celebrity status to affect change."
Her activism put her at odds with the FBI, and documents later revealed that J. Edgar Hoover carried out a deliberate campaign to destroy her acting career.
Director Rappaport captures these dramatic ups-and-downs in Seberg's tragic life story through this fictional autobiography based upon historical truths.
This format allows him to explore certain ideological attitudes and messages that are conveyed outside of the scenery, the characters, and the story with the hopes of illuminating a larger picture within film history.
"From the Journals of Jean Seberg" is being presented at Loew Auditorium as part of a series put together for the course Film Studies 30: Documentary Film History and Practice.
Film Studies Professor Mark Decker said "From the Journals of Jean Seberg is "a wonderful film."
It "is incredibly intricate, but very good," he said. "I would make it required viewing for anyone who ever wanted to take a film class."
