Cinema Verite is the true story of the Loud family, America’s first reality TV family. In the 70s, documentary filmmaker Craig Gilbert (James Gandolfini) and PBS embarked on the groundbreaking task of creating An American Family, a series that helped change the way Americans looked at themselves and their ideals. Pat Loud (Diane Lane) and Bill Loud (Tim Robbins) agreed to let Gilbert’s camera crew shoot their family and see hopefully show the world how a true family unit lives. Sadly, the “experiment” backfired on the Louds, showing off only the negative aspects of their relationships. The series was tragic in its innovation, drawing 10 million viewers to watch the series on PBS. Yet, it served as the basis for warped reality TV shows today like Jersey Shore and The Real World.
Cinema Verite brings to life what happened behind the camera. Off camera moments are mixed in with edits of stylized documentary 35mm film footage. The story primarily focuses on Pat and her eventual breakup with husband Bill. She agreed to the experiment because she saw it as a way to keep her husband closer to home. However, over the course of the film, lies and deceit are exposed on camera and behind-the-scenes as Gilbert seeks to show viewers the “reality” of non Partridge Family life.
“Is that what we really want to leave behind as a culture, something that is the complete antithesis of how we really live. Fumbling around in confusion.” – Gandolfini as Gilbert
In today’s marathon of pseudo-reality series, An American Family would be nothing more than cliché. However, back in the 70s it exposed several types. Pat was to be the liberated woman who broke up with her lecherous husband on camera. While Bill was the source of all that was wrong in a Vietnam era America. Lance (Thomas Dekker), their son, is exposed as TV’s first openly gay character. At the time, being homosexual was still taboo in America. The documentary used Lance’s homosexuality as a launch point to discredit the family and show them as “what was wrong with America.”
Unlike the actual documentary, Cinema Verite offers viewers a chance to draw their own opinion of the Loud family – however, scripted. The final ten minutes of the film incorporates real footage from 70s TV shows, where the Louds spoke out openly against Gilbert. It also goes on to explain what happened to the family in the years following the documentary.
The creative team behind Cinema Verite did an excellent job of creating the atmosphere of the 70s. From the Santa Barbara wild fires to life at New York’s Chelsea Hotel, they’re work on recreating the era was exceptional. Lane, Robbins and Gandolfini and Dekker perform brilliantly. When compared against the actual people in archive footage, it’s amazing to see how similar each actor is in relation to the characters they portray – both visually and in their mannerisms.
Cinema Verite is an excellent film that shows us what real reality TV should be, while helping us to see that the final edit is more-or-less a scripted piece structured for entertainment and drama. It’s the birth of reality TV and how it inevitably became a twisted art form.
