Ever stopped yourself at the height of Déjà vu
When your feet are glued to the floor?
– mE
“I’ll play scrabble with you.”
Lydia Screamed. The car began to swerve all around the street. “YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH! I’LL KILL YOU!”
She crossed the double yellow line at high speed, directly into oncoming traffic. Horns sounded and cars scattered. We drove on against the flow of traffic, cars approaching us peeling off the left and right. Then just as abruptly Lydia swerved back across the double line into the lane we had just vacated.
Where are the police? I thought. Why is it that when Lydia does something the police become nonexistent?
– Charles Bukowski
Dada is nonsensical. Well …… the solution to this mans problem should be easy. His name doesn’t matter. Never did to anyone who had given him more than 5 minutes of time. The first person to care about him was this girl he’d met online. However, later he learned that she sells cocaine. Which was no problem to him as he’s had a few bumps in his time – and they continued dating. After the highest of months, when he was seemingly loving life, he then asked her to move into a house together. Made sense since they were riding high. They mutually agreed that buying a flat together, that would be the simplest option since she had lots of loose cash around. When they were moving in – six months down the line – he met another girl. She was intoxicating. He was haunted by the first time their eyes locked and she entered his dreams on a regular basis. Because of this he chased her relentlessly. Then finally – he won her over. Now he is stuck in a love triangle, between his first girlfriend of whom he owns a house made of powder and this goddess of light. (well in his eyes at least)
November
The mellow year is hasting to its close;
The little birds have almost sung their last,
Their small notes twitter in the dreary blast –
That shrill-piped harbinger of early snows;
The patient beauty of the scentless rose,
Oft with the Morn’s hoar crystal quaintly glass’d,
Hangs, a pale mourner for the summer past,
And makes a little summer where it grows:
In the chill sunbeam of the faint brief day
The dusky waters shudder as they shine,
The russet leaves obstruct the struggling way
Of oozy brooks, which no deep banks define,
And the gaunt woods, in ragged, scant array,
Wrap their old limbs with sombre ivy twine.
Hartley Coleridge
L’Étoile de Mer Is a short film by Man Ray based on a poem by Robert Desnos. The film effectively plays with the viewers context, building tension throughout 15 minutes until the last shot. The starfish introduced at the very start is representative of love which is featured throughout. I feel Man Ray’s intention was for the viewer to discover this based on their own experience of love. An aim of his to resonate with the audience on a personal level. From the opening scene the star shape floats on a watery surface. This could simply represent the birthplace of the starfish or some sort of current that sees love float.
The focus is then on feet and legs which is to introduce the sexual attraction of the woman. Imagery that has been based in art throughout time, however mainly being predominant in the renaissance period. As legs are sexual and suggestive without being explicit, the very reason why legs are still often used in advertising. This ties in with the opening line of the poem “Women’s teeth are such charming things…” in this case, is it her sexual appeal that is her teeth? Or is it her actual teeth when she speaks? the poem follows “that one ought to see them only in a dream or in the instant of love” – ‘that one’ in the poems context is directed to the reader himself. However, in this case due to the shot of her pulling up a stocking ‘that one’ could be switched to her narrative. This text being placed between shots could suggest that it is the woman’s image of love. Hence, they both go upstairs. Instead of love making she simply undresses and bares herself. This could be her baring her soul or is suggesting an intimate moment between them. The man leaves the house – “we are forever lost in a desert of eternity” is showing the man stepping out into reality, into the world by himself. The film then centres around the everyday, industrial action, him buying newspapers. He then buys a starfish as he recipient of her affection and love. However, the following text “after all” indicates something is not right – maybe he is not fully appreciative of the love he has received or vice versa.
The newspaper is now a struggle to pick up in the wind. But life continues to move on. “Flowers are made of glass” The machinery-based shot is shown, the wheels are spinning, roulette is shown – love is a gamble, and now it is for him. The starfish is now in a clear tub. To be touched from the outside and not directly. The starfish is then shown amongst rotating machinery, this may be to represent the rotating nature of relationship between love and people. The woman lies in bed peacefully, her daily life is represented through a still image of the table, wine and the starfish (not contained in any way). The man and woman now face each other, and a pair of eyes with light coming through them is projected. The veil has been lifted. As they look at each other to ask – where did it go wrong? “beautiful like a flower of flesh” After their night together the relationship has changed. The man then looks at his hands with the starfish on a table. Contemplating with tape tracking the lines on his palms, otherwise fate – he holds his own. “Strike when the iron is hot” (although interpreted in English this way) he missed his chance at love. He had ceased to see the beauty in her and in turn his days had turned dark and dreary. His fortunes have changed.
The woman walks up the same staircase they had gone up not long ago, this time with a knife. Symbolising the death of the relationship, or alternately her willingness to make the strike that will end it. The knife and starfish being superimposed – the death of love. The rest of the piece is now a hollow feeling by the man’s perspective – “and if you find on this earth a woman whose love is true” the flowing water then suggests going with the flow of love instead of resisting it. Tying back to the opening scene. The woman is held in high esteem in comparison. She lies in bed reflecting rather than wallowing, the poem continues “you are not dreaming” telling him “how beautiful she was” and in between the two shots of text – the truth is revealed when a second man approaches and takes her away from him. The man is left alone to contemplate her beauty and what could have been. The final shots of the broken glass are to represent the shattering of the illusion, the door closing – closure.
I feel the film works with the poem in switching narrative between the male and female’s perspective. Leaving the audience in a state of unknowing until the very end. Since my chosen theme is the metamorphosis of man and love, and with this short film addressing the same theme – I would like to incorporate a starfish into my film.
Women's teeth are such charming things that one ought to see them only in a dream or in the instant of love. So beautiful! Cybèle? We are forever lost in the desert of eternal darkness. How beautiful she is "After all" If the flowers were made of glass Beautiful, beautiful like a glass flower Beautiful like a flower of flesh Strike while the iron is hot The walls of the Santé And if you find on this earth a woman whose love is true... Beautiful like a flower of fire The sun, one foot in the stirrup, nestles a nightingale in a mourning veil. You are not dreaming How beautiful she was How beautiful she is.
I will be creating my own surrealist short film.
This blog is to introduce and collect ideas for that film.
Dada
– The Pulse –
18.27 