A Life, A Manifesto

This is a movie about Michèle Firk, a deeply intelligent and forthright woman ahead of the curve. Writing scathing film essays, our protagonist latched onto the socialist and communist movements, becoming a vocal critic of colonialist France. She turned into a hands-on activist, engaging with members in the Algerian National Liberation Front. She later became guerilla fighter in Guatemala. Fearing arrest and torture in Latin America, Firk killed herself in 1968, aged just 31.

Firk left behind whole strands of intellectual thoughts to pen. Such was her turn of phrase, she credited a Cuban lover with making her “sweat”. She was very cynical of the Nouvelle Vague. The film movement triggered change from “old men” to “rich boys”, she purported. Women like her would struggle to make an assertive presence on a studio set. Turning her poetry into activism, she felt a sense of pride when students took to the streets in May ’68. Her premature demise meant that she never saw the repercussions of the movement.

Périot clearly admires his subject, however without slipping into the hagiographic territory. Describing her death, the director chooses a portrait of Firk at the most beautiful. What added to the trauma is the fact that Firk had written to colleagues, stating she had never been more content in her life, working amongst radical minds in Guatemala.

Narrators Alice Diop and Nadia Tereszkiewicz read from letters and journal records, showcasing Firk’s determination to see a communist utopia that would originate from the “Third World”. Wisely, Périot keeps it to the period in question, without discussing how her ideals have aged since. Everything a viewer witnesses on the big screen occurred during her lifespan, from the horrific radio messages delivered to Jews in the 1940s to Che Guevara’s death in 1967.

Firk made a number of films, yet none survived. This forced documentarist Jean-Gabriel Périot to rely on clips from other movies. For example, there are abundant images from Hiroshima, mon amour (Alain Resnais, 1959), one of Firk’s favourite movies ever.

This is an accomplished movie that could inspire viewers to research Firk further. The images are powerful, the pacing measured and the inclusion of musical cues cleverly articulated. Despite the limitations, archivists do a satisfactory job. It is also a surprisingly safe film, in the uncontroversial way it projects Firk as an individual.

Eoghan Lyng
Dirty Movies
May, 14, 2026
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