this guy

Posted: September 2nd, 2025 | Tags: | Comments Off on this guy
David Lynch on the terrace of his office in Hollywood Hills, photograph by Yal Sadat. From the April 2023 Cahiers du Cinema interview.

from his April 2023 Cahiers du Cinema interview:

One of the most beautiful things about your shorts is that they reconnect with black and white.

It’s funny that you tell me about it, I had an appointment two days ago with Fred Elmes, the cinematographer of Eraserhead, which we shot with Double-X black and white film. There is the +X, the double X and the tri-X. Fred told me we only do Double-X, my favorite. It is simply exquisite. The black and white is so sublime. (He pauses suddenly and for a long time, his voice begins to tremble). You can go back in time more easily with black and white, you can… visit another world. One day, we had sent a magnificent copy of Eraserhead to Deauville. The film was shown late at night, during a session with proper dress required, people came to sit in tuxedos in this brand new cinema which was at the forefront of technical refinement. A Frenchman whose name I have forgotten told me: “On the screen appeared your film, Eraserhead. But it was not black and white. It was black and silver… It was so beautiful. The colors of the crowd matched those of the screen.” I pictured myself this evening, and I can still see it… And those people in tuxedos, it’s the pinnacle of elegance. That’s what a screening should be: a party with lots of people in tuxedos. It’s such a treasured tradition.

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