From the Journals of Jean Seberg

Streaming video - 1996

Mark Rappaport's creative bio-pic about actress Jean Seberg is presented in a first-person, autobiographical format (with Seberg played by Mary Beth Hurt). He seamlessly interweaves cinema, politics, American society and culture, and film theory to inform, entertain, and move the viewer. Seberg's many marriages, as well as her film roles, are discussed extensively. Her involvement with the Black Panther Movement and subsequent investigation by the FBI is covered. Notably, details of French New Wave cinema, Russian Expressionist (silent) films, and the careers of Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, and Clint Eastwood are also intensively examined. Much of the film is based on conjecture, but Rappaport encourages viewers to re-examine the...ir ideas about women in film with this thought-provoking picture. “The movie is too filled with ideas to see just once.”—J. Hoberman, The Village Voice “A movie full of ideas, intellectually adventurous yet accessible… From the Journals of Jean Seberg is a cinephile’s delight.”—Phillip Lopate, Film Comment From the Journals of Jean Seberg is Mark Rappaport’s smart blend of fiction, biography and sociocultural meditation, wrapped in a smoothly entertaining package—The New York Times "Rappaport virtually invented a new form of film criticism in ROCK HUDSON'S HOME MOVIES, a melange of clips and commentary..." FROM THE JOURNALS OF JEAN SEBERG builds impressively on that remarkable accomplishment. With Mary Beth Hurt portraying the actress, Rappaport's "fictional essay" arrive at places that conventional documentaries are largely unable to reach. –Jonathan Rosenbaum, Cineaste Won the Independent/Experimental Film and Video Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. more