French documentarian Nicolas Philibert takes on a backstage tour of the seven channels of Radio France in House of Radio (La Maison de la Radio). Philibert’s style is entirely observational – there is no narration and I remember only one title identifying the Radio France building at beginning of film. The camera just watches the people of Radio France do their jobs – including interviews, news reports, performances, games shows and even the sports reporters on motorbikes covering the Tour de France.
As San Francisco Film Society Director of Programming Rachel Rosen noted, radio is a medium that draws much of its power from the absence of images. The editing in House of Radio seems completely random but it’s not – Philibert strings all of his nuggets together so that we never lose interest. I want to see this guy’s next movie.
I saw House of Radio at the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series. It’s not currently available in theaters or on DVD or streaming in the US.