MERCI D'ÊTRE VENU

Alain Cavalier’s farewell gesture is driven by a conviction that has always inspired him: to film in order to live, and to live in order to film.

At the age of 94, Alain Cavalier continues the theme that runs through his entire body of work: filming everyday life before it disappears. A conversation, a walk, a meal, a beloved face, a sudden thought… Nothing seems too small to become cinema. Spanning nearly fifteen years of life, Merci d’être venu is a free-form diary in which the days unfold with no logic other than the passage of time. Little by little, the most ordinary moments take on an unexpected depth, whilst absence, old age and death quietly make their way into the picture. Without nostalgia or solemnity, Alain Cavalier has created a moving final film, bidding farewell with grace and infinite gentleness. Thank you, sir!