The antithesis of the virile heroes of his era, James Dean shook up the codes of masculinity in the space of three films. Seventy years after his death at the age of 24, this portrait brings him back to life by interweaving his words and those of his entourage with fascinating archival footage.

On September 30, 1955, James Dean, speeding to Salinas to take part in a car race, was cut down in his prime in a car accident. Before the tragedy that sealed his legend, the actor nevertheless gave flesh, with burning intensity, to the doubts, rebellions, and aspirations of a disoriented youth. First on the small screen, in television series such as A Long Time Till Dawn, then in the cinema, through three films shot in less than two years: East of Eden by Elia Kazan, Rebel Without a Cause by Nicholas Ray, and Giant by George Stevens. Alternately playing a misunderstood son, a rebellious teenager, and a cowboy turned oil tycoon, the graduate of the Actors Studio injected each of his roles with his own childhood wounds. At the age of nine, “Jimmy” was deprived of his mother’s protective love when she died of cancer. Raised by his aunt on a farm in Indiana, he constantly sought the recognition of his father, for whom acting was not “a man’s job.”

Highly strung

In his life as on screen, through his highly strung teenage characters, which made him the icon of a generation, James Dean shook up the representation of masculinity by laying bare its fragilities. Seventy years after his death, Cyril Leuthy (Godard – Seul le cinéma) sets out to explore the man behind the myth, drawing on his own words and the memories of those who knew him (family, friends, directors, and actors with whom he worked). This choral narrative, carried by the voices of inspired actors, is interwoven with carefully selected excerpts from his films, in which he put so much of himself, and a rich archive of material. We discover some real treasures, such as a bullfight—one of his passions—animated frame by frame, which he shot with figurines, or a test shot with Sal Mineo for Rebel Without a Cause, in which the two actors push sexual ambiguity beyond what was showable in the hope of circumventing censorship. An intimate, sensual, and poetic portrait that pays tribute to the modernity of an incandescent actor whose sensitivity bursts off the screen.