The panorama of human affairs encounters the “man with a movie camera”. His playground has no boundaries, his curiosity no limits. Characters, situations and places pitch camp in the life of a humanity that is at once the viewer and the thing viewed. But what are the last days of this humanity? Have they already passed? Are they now or still to come?

1989 film directed by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet

片中茱莉•柯尔泰的独白来自塞尚与乔亚希姆•加斯奎特的谈话录，镜头下的作品与涉及的画家都有些专业，而中译又不是很好，所以本片可能会让非艺术专业的人感到无所适从。(by -王嵘- )

This is a fascinating documentary on the making of Klassenverhältnisse (Class Relations). Farocki is both an actor and a director of this documentary. The film focuses on the rehearsal of two scenes (the "missing photo in the bag" scene and the "I'm completely drunk and I'm going to ruin your life" scene) and the shooting of the first rehearsed scene.
Like Pedro Costa's beautiful film on Straub & Huillet, Farocki's take focuses on the meticulous, obsessive work of the authors while at the same time incorporating a cinematic pace akin to their films'.
Here we see not the final step (editing) but the very early phases of the construction of the film. While working with the actors, while making them repeat the same scene over and over, Straub & Huillet are actually beginning to envision the mise-en-scène. We thus have the rare opportunity to see two master film-makers as they start to make actual progress in the artistic concretization of the work.
It may help if you have seen Klassenverhältnisse before, but it's really not necessary in order to follow this fascinating film.

Six unused scenes from WHERE LIES YOUR HIDDEN SMILE? One of the more priceless of the "bagatelles" in this collection features a lounging Jean-Marie Straub who gives a non-stop disquisition on liberty and filmmaking while Danièle Huillet busies herself with laundry, and their dog Melchior frisks in and out of frame.

Interview with Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet about their movie Klassenverhält

Undaunted by a commission to make a film about his mentors and aesthetic exemplars, the filmmaking team of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, Costa records with great sensitivity and insight the exacting process by which the two re-edit their film Sicilia!, discussing and arguing over each cut and its effect. Incorporating comments about the influence of figures as diverse as Chaplin and Eisenstein, about the ethical and aesthetic implications of film technique and such matters as rhythm, sound mixing, and acting. The film becomes a tour de force, immersing us in the mysteries of cinema as practiced by some of its greatest creators. Costa calls the film both his first comedy and his first love story.