An encounter with Simone Weil / Line Street Productions ; written, directed and produced by Julia Haslett.

Director's Cut.

[Brooklyn, NY] : Line Street Productions, ©2011.

1 videodisc (85 min.) : sound, color with black and white sequences ; 4 1/2 cm

What response does seeing human suffering demand of us? Filmmaker Julia Haslett seeks an answer in the controversial French philosopher and activist Simone Weil (1909-1943), whose life and work took on this question in a dramatic way. Adopting Weil as her guide through an engaging and profound moral landscape, Julia goes on a journey to understand Weil's loss of faith in revolutionary politics and the spiritual awakening that followed. Driving her obsession with Weil is the interwoven story of suffering within Haslett's own family, her father's suicide when she was 17 and now her older brother's severe depression. When Weil dies from self-starvation at the height of World War II, she is left wondering if death was the logical conclusion to Weil's philosophy and her attempt to share the pain of others?

Images / Video & Film

English; French

March 26, 2018

Producers: Fabrizia Galvagno, Klara Grunning-Harris, Julia Haslett, Enrico Rossini Cullen ; director of photography: Thomas Torres Cordova ; composer: Daniel Thomas Davis.

Soraya Broukhim.

DVD-R, NTSC; All Regions.