Léon la Lune (Alain Jessua, 1956)

“The man you’re going to see is not not an actor, but in this little film, he plays the role of his life. In a dreamlike atmosphere, he goes through everyday adventures accompanied by wine, music, cigarettes, sleep, hunger and sometimes even work. He is all alone in this world, that’s why they call him Leon the Moon. But he is just like you, me or anyone else - a real life character.“ (written introduction by Jacques Prévert) Léon la lune (English: Leon the Moon) is a 1956 French short documentary film directed by Alain Jessua. The film won the Prix Jean Vigo in 1957. The film documents an old drifter in Paris in the poetic realist style. Jessua was inspired by Jean-Paul Clébert’s book Paris Insolite (1952) and decided to make a film about a clochard or tramp. The poet and novelist Robert Giraud, an expert on the Parisian underworld, introduced Jessua to Léon la Lune, a vagrant whose real name was Leon Boudeville, and suggested that they follow him from day to night. After completing the film Giraud showed it to the poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert who wrote an introduction and asked Henri Crolla to contribute some music to the film. Léon la lune also appeared in the series Clochards by Robert Doisneau, the pioneer of humanist photojournalism.