with Roudinesco and Borradori,Derrida,released in 2002 ,
does not devote much time to the themes of politics and jus-
tice. Its center of interest is not Derrida’s political opinions but
his idea of the cryptic, necessarily hidden self.^13 In 1995 Amy
Ziering Kofman, who had attended Derrida’s lectures at Yale
and at the Sorbonne, decided she wanted to make a documen-
tary film about him. Kofman, then living in California, pro-
posed the film to Derrida after a lecture at UC–Irvine. After a
long silence, Derrida scribbled a postcard from Paris express-
ing his approval, and they were off.
At least, this is what Kofman thought had happened.
Derrida had actually written noon the postcard, but in his
customary, very bad handwriting. In any event, the film was
made, and it is a fascinating document. Derrida, though some-
thing of a dandy with his fashionable suits and flamboyantly
styled hair, was noticeably uncomfortable being filmed. (In a
memorable scene from the movie, we actually see Derrida at
the hair salon, the stylist’s scissors snipping away as Kofman
recites a passage from one of his essays on Nietzsche.)
Not happy with how he looked on screen, Derrida was
equally wary of having his thought misrepresented, as it had so
often been by the media: he demanded that he be given final
veto power over the movie. After the final cut had been made,
he would get to see the movie first, and any scenes or images
he disliked would be removed. Kofman agreed to these terms,
a very unusual move for a documentary filmmaker. (As it
turned out, Derrida asked that some of the footage of his wife
Marguerite in their kitchen be removed and that he himself
not be shown choking on yogurt at breakfast.) Kofman en-
listed as codirector a much more experienced filmmaker,
Kirby Dick.
Derridashows Derrida in the midst of daily life: butter-
240 Politics, Marx, Judaism