How François Truffaut’s ‘The 400 Blows’ Inspired the Director of ‘Panopticon’

George Sikharulidze’s first feature film, “Panopticon”, is, according to the director, a very personal film.

The film, which had its world premiere in the main competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, is a coming-of-age story about a young man who finds himself in trouble, without any meaningful parental authority.

Sikharulidze, who grew up in a tough neighborhood in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, in the 1990s, where he lived with his grandmother, mother and sister, says he was inspired to take inspiration from his own experiences in his first film watching François Truffaut’s seminal 1959 film “The 400 Blows”.

“I graduated from the Media and Communications program at New York University,” explains the New York-based director. Variety“At the time, I wasn’t sure I wanted to make films, but I saw a few films, including Truffaut, that inspired me to go to Columbia Film School to study directing.”

Truffaut’s film – about Antoine Doinel, a troubled young man who fights with his parents and teachers because of his rebellious behavior – gave Sikharulidze the impetus to draw inspiration from his own story of estrangement from his father , including a tribute to Truffaut when the film’s titles are seen on a television in one scene.

“Panopticon” – about the challenges a deeply religious young man, Sandro, faces as he struggles with his sexual feelings and a difficult relationship with a largely absent father – mirrors themes the director has encountered in his own life.

“I didn’t grow up in a religious family. When we were teenagers, due to some social pressures, my sister and I turned to religion, to Christian Orthodoxy,” he explains. “We created a little prayer corner, with icons and candles. We prayed and went to church. I was the one who dragged my father to church.”

The film also reflects a broader view of current Georgian social and political culture, he adds.

“From the beginning, the script deals with two worlds: the old traditional world and the contemporary world. Sandro is caught between these two worlds.

“In the absence of his father, Sandro became radicalized and ended up belonging to a movement that I would call Christian fascism – this can be seen in some elements of what the current (Georgian) government is doing, using Christian fundamentalism to take power and alienate Georgia even further from society. liberal ideas of tolerance, independence and freedom. This is what is happening now.

A deeply intellectual filmmaker, Sikharulidze explains that the title “Panopticon” reflects the way society imprisons people by making them visible, while the agents of power and authority themselves remain invisible. When Sandro’s father leaves for a monastery, he entrusts his powers of observation to an invisible God. Sandro’s physical sexual urges conflict with his internalized conceptions of sin, and he attempts to hide his desires by pretending to have “accidentally” touched the buttocks of a young woman he passes on the street, or to have dropped a bath towel so that a woman in a neighboring apartment can see him naked from her window.

The director is referring to the film’s final scene – where Sandro appears to have a chance at redemption – in which a university professor discusses French philosopher Michel Foucault’s thoughts on the design of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon prison, claiming that “visibility is a trap”.

“In fact, what we see today in Georgia is a generation of young people making themselves visible. This is very different from trapping. It is visibility to gain freedom and fight for the good cause – a European future, independence. To do this, you must make yourself visible and put yourself forward. It is very honest, authentic and commendable; This is what gives hope to this generation.

Looking to the future and trying to maintain faith in humanity seem to be part of Sikharulidze’s intellectual vision: he is currently researching two projects. One is about a blind therapist and the other is about artificial intelligence, transhumanism and body transformation.