Something in the Air (France: Olivier Assayas, 2012)

In the ’70s people used to believed in the revolution coming up. They believed the world would change, they believed in the future, and put more hope and trust in it than in the present. To get the future right you also had to understand the past—that could help you avoid its mistakes. Now people don’t believe in the future, they don’t believe in the possible revolution, the overthrow of modern western society. And they don’t think we need to understand the past to deal with the present. The Occupy Wall Street movement was absolutely closest to whatever was going on in the ’70s, but from a very different perspective. I was in New York when it was happening and it impressed me how similar the feeling it caused was to what it was like forty years ago. It was the first time in ages I had a sense of something happening. But then there’s a question of how much will stick, how big will it grow… it’s very difficult to say. (Source)


Something in the Air (France: Olivier Assayas, 2012: 122 mins)

"1968." Wikipedia (No Date) [this timeline is included in order to give you a sense of the events the characters are responding to...]

Ali, Tariq and Susan Watkins. 1968: Marching in the Streets. NY: Free Press, 1998. [Professor has copy of the book]



Assayas, Olivier. "My Generation." Village Voice (August 17, 2004)

LeGac, Frank. "Great Directors: Olivier Assayas." Senses of Cinema." (May 2006)

Romney, Jonathan. "Film of the Week: Something in the Air." Sight and Sound (June 2013)

Ross, Kristin. May '68 and Its Afterlives. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.

"Situationist International." Wikipedia (No Date)

Situationist International Online (Website - Archive)

"Situationists - An Introduction." Lib.com (October 12, 2006)

Tatarska, Anna. "Olivier Assayas’ Past and Future: Here, the director talks about May ’68 and the making of his film SOMETHING IN THE AIR." Keyframe (May 17, 2016)

Yue, Genevieve. "Review of Olivier Assayas edited by Kent Jones; A Post-May Adolescence: Letter to Alice Debord by Olivier Assayas." Film Quarterly 66.2 (Winter 2012): 58-62.