Jonathan Ali talks to Malaury Eloi Paisley from Guadeloupe, director of L’Homme-Vertige: Tales from a City
Malaury Eloi-Paisley: “I believe that cinema is not separate from life”
In 2016, filmmaker Malaury Eloi-Paisley began documenting Pointe-à-Pitre—her birthplace and the administrative center of Guadeloupe, a French Caribbean department. Specifically, it filmed the lives of several people in its precarious confines. Eight years later, her intimate and ambitious tapestry of a film, Vertigo Man: Tales of a Cityit seems, a witness to these lives.
Through the compassionate lens of the director’s camera, we meet a series of indelible characters. It is the elderly Ti Chal, who joined the Cuban Revolution and now suffers from lung disease. There’s also Eddie – a drug addict in the world, homeless. And Eric, a stoic philosopher, walks his decaying city reciting a series of literary texts in search. Taken together, these sensitive cinematic portraits form the poetic analogue of an island and a society.
Malaury Eloi-Paisley spoke to him Jonathan Ali about the process of making her remarkable silent film.
What prompted you to make this film?
I am amazed by the power of the encounters I have and the characters whose paths I cross. Seers and prophets who reside in the town of Pointe-à-Pitre and say something about us and our history. There was an urgency to address certain issues – unspoken aspects of society. “This monstrosity,” as the Martinican novelist Patrick Chamoiseau puts it.
What does “L’homme-Vertige” – literally “The Vertigo Man” – mean?
The Vertigo Man it is a poem. I am influenced by Haitian literature, especially Spiralism, which broke with the dictates of rational thought and linear storytelling. The Haitian poet Frankétienne uses the rhythms of the Creole language – a lively language, rich in metaphors, with a unique musicality. He uses this term “vertigo” a lot when talking about the chaos of Port-au-Prince.
I also wanted to talk about our territory with our rhythms and language. Vertigo is a state of anxiety bordering on insanity. The men and women in my film bear witness to the chaos of the world – the anguish of a society on the brink – but stand, unable to fall. I was looking for a term that would embody this complexity.
How did you meet your participants and what was the process of getting to know them like?
Because I believe that cinema is not separate from life, I met them because I am who I am. I see unique beings and there is something about their way of being in the world that fascinates me. It is the growth of curiosity that drives me to others. Cinema is an alibi to maintain that connection, which might not exist otherwise – or which can only exist through cinema.
In addition to documenting the lives of its participants, the film witnesses the urban evolution of Pointe-à-Pitre.
When I returned to live in Guadeloupe after several years abroad, the city was in the throes of change. There was little, if any, documentation of what was happening – the displacement and displacement of city residents, some of whom could not afford the new housing. There are lots of gatherings, abandoned buildings and fires. To film the backside of Pointe-à-Pitre is to experience emptiness and immobility, while also measuring the consequences of history and successive policies enacted thousands of kilometers away in Europe.
The film also records the independence movement, UPLG (People’s Union for the Liberation of Guadeloupe). The motion flag is a recurring motif in the film and is prominent in the final shot.
The flag of independence is increasingly present in everyday life. When we started editing, I wondered how outsiders would understand that this is a colony. I told myself that the French flags should be seen in the landscape. I thought there had to be visible signs for people to understand the colonial presence. But this violence is everywhere – it permeates architecture, bodies, words.
Is independence the solution?
I don’t think that’s the question. I don’t know what the solution to this violence is. I can only say that there are structural problems of a political, economic and social nature. These are inextricably linked to the past with the French state, to the relations inherited from the colonial society, to economic dependence, to the lack of a policy of food self-sufficiency, to unemployment, to the poisoning of the soil… the list is long. . So far, France has not acted in our interests. Always this contempt, this feeling of superiority. What more can I say?
Vertigo Man: Tales of a City (2024)
Director: Malaury Eloi-Paisley
Guadeloupe • 93 minutes
