In 1969, the pianist Thelonius Monk recorded a televised programme in Paris, backstage, during his performance at the Pleyel concert hall. He is said to be eccentric, a little mad, perhaps stupid. It is also said that he liked passing himself off as eccentric, a little mad, perhaps stupid. The rushes of the interview, rearranged and delivered after Alain Gomis’ masterful and syncopated editing, reveal his strange manner and the way the artist deals with the situation: through his silences and laconic replies, his smiles and absent air, Monk undermines not only the imposed exercise of the interview (which ends in a fiasco), but also the stereotyped story of jazz in which colour is forcibly admired. By refusing to play the game, he plays his game, which springs triumphantly to life when his fingers touch the keyboard. AR
Premiere
French release: January 11, 2023
