Oscar-winning director Frederick Wiseman, whose unflinching films chronicled American life, has died peacefully at his home aged 96.
PARIS: US documentary pioneer Frederick Wiseman has died at the age of 96. His production company confirmed he passed away peacefully at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Monday.
For over half a century, the Oscar-winning filmmaker patiently observed America’s institutions through dozens of documentaries. His unobtrusive lens transformed the drudgery of a welfare office or a city zoo’s routines into gripping cinema, presented without voiceovers or talking heads.
A pioneer of independent US cinema, Wiseman typically worked with a three-person crew. He edited and produced the films himself, creating works ranging from one to six hours in length.
The New York Times once asked if the Great American novelist doesn’t write novels. Its 2020 profile described Wiseman’s body of work as “the nearest contemporary equivalent” to the classic novel.
His first film, 1967’s “Titicut Follies,” caused instant controversy by capturing the bleak reality of an asylum for the mentally ill. Harrowing scenes showed the deplorable treatment of patients, including a man being force-fed by a doctor with a cigarette hanging from his mouth.
The institution filed a complaint hoping to ban the film’s release on privacy grounds. The case dragged on for years but Wiseman never gave up the fight, revealing a lifelong single-minded focus.
He had a deep understanding of the law, having studied and practiced as a lawyer before picking up a camera. Over subsequent decades, Wiseman entered high schools, hospitals, army camps, meat factories and public libraries to explore American life.
He eschewed stylistic qualities that drew attention to filmmaking itself. Wiseman deemed close-ups of talking mouths and body parts from his early work “too distracting.”
A passionate workhorse, he averaged about one documentary every few years for a long time. He maintained low production costs and his own company, Zipporah Films, to keep industry pressure off.
Even in his ninth decade, he told AFP in 2021 that his list of desired subjects was “never-ending.” His late works showed no sign of diminishing ambition.
For his 2020 documentary “City Hall,” he returned to his birthplace of Boston to explore the mayor’s office. He made a rare foray into fiction two years later with “A Couple,” inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s relationship with his wife.
France was also a favoured subject where he turned his lens on famous institutions. These included the Paris Opera Ballet, the Crazy Horse cabaret and the Comedie Francaise theatre.
Wiseman typically shot 140 to 150 hours of footage for each film. He would then sit alone in his editing studio for months to craft the final feature.
He generally did not prepare before starting a project, wanting to enter without preconceived ideas. This approach yielded classic scenes like the ending of his celebrated 1975 documentary “Welfare.”
In that film, a disheveled man sick of endless waiting launches into an eloquent tirade ending with Samuel Beckett. “You know what happened in the story of Godot? He never came.”
Wiseman was married for over 65 years to the late Zipporah Batshaw, a lawyer and professor. She inspired the name of his production company, and they had two sons together.
