‘Face à face’ is considered by many to be nothing more than a “simple recording” of a performance by Michèle Anne De Mey. The spirit of the performance is certainly sublimely reproduced, but there is more. ‘Face à face’ is to some extent the synthesis of Pauwels’s earlier experiments. Pauwels attentively observes the dancers without them being aware of his presence. In filming their subtle movements he finds a way to reconcile observation and participation.