Two Frenchmen argue about existence while one wants to die. Très intellectuel, très hot.
A beach on the shores of the Mediterranean, crushed by the sun, under an implacable blue sky, isolated on a rock like Sisyphus rolling away his bitterness, a man is on the verge of suicide. While ruminating on his fixed idea, he is disturbed by an intruder, a doctor on vacation like him. The man with a fixed idea (Pierre Arditi) declares "I felt in a state of inhumanity", the doctor (Bernard Murat) decked out in all the holidaymaker's accessories: a landing net, an easel and a colored box, comes to invade the morbid loneliness. The importunate debonair begins a conversation that will turn into a philosophical joust where we approach science, Einstein, politics, and the verb. THE MATERIALIST AND THE PHILOSOPHER scrap at speckled foils with the sharpest and most divinely French spirit. Conversation is a balm, an intellectual bandage. The good doctor is a good practitioner and a brave man!
Acting
Arditi's suicidal stillness against Murat's manic holiday energy.
Writing
Valéry's razor dialogue—every line a fencing match.
Director
Bernard Murat
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Valéry wrote this in 1934; the 'materialist vs philosopher' debate was France's favorite blood sport between the wars.
Director Murat plays the doctor himself—casting himself as the chatty savior of his own suicidal protagonist.
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