A film by Odile Fillion
2000-2002
Lenght 135 min
Master Digital Beta

these are readings these are texts with constraints it is often for a laugh it is not theatre it is inspired by mathematics they are not necessarily writers it has been going on for forty tears these are original texts it is a form of collective composition it is a unique phenomenon in contemporary literature it is of public utility they are always the same they never rally are the same it is Raymond Queneau and Fran�ois le Lionnais' idea it is a group with no equivalent it is the revelation of their complicity it is peppered with quotations these are only thirty three episodes among others they probably are not actors these are arbitrary but not random choices it is not cinema it is extremely rigorous there are no special effects these are videos

Since the sixties, the Oulipo ( Workroom for Potential Literature ) defines itself as an exploratory group that develops new writing tools based on a system of "constraints" mainly inspired by mathematics. The Oulipo's constraints form a "common fund" for the group that makes it continuously evolve and fructify. Since the group was founded by Fran�ois le Lionnais and Raymond Queneau, 40 people have contributed to the conception of this "common fund". Every second Thursday of each month, the members of the Oulipo meet in the Lecture Hall number 24 at Jussieu University to expose their works in a public reading. First filmed as a way to file and testify, the Thursday's readings are edited for the first time in video.