| .Festival 2003 |
SCIENCE IS FICTION:
THE FILMS OF JEAN PAINLEVE
- Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, Thursday, 9:15PM
"You stand alone as a competitor to Our Lady of Lourdes, as far as miracles are concerned."
- Sergei Eisentstein in a letter to Jean Painlevé
Inexplicably neglected by cinema history, there has recently been a resurgence of interest in the French filmmaker Jean Painlevé (1902-1989). A pioneer of underwater filming, close friend of anarchist filmmaker Jean Vigo, and self-proclaimed popularizer of science, his films defy categorization as either science or art. Audiences were alternately enthralled and mystified by a 1945 documentary of a vampire bat set to a jazz soundtrack, and The Seahorse, one of the first underwater films (and probably the first film to show a male giving birth), which depicts underwater life to the strains of Darius Milhaud. Complaining that in the mediocre documentaries of the day that "the unexpected, the unusual, the lyrical -- all have vanished," he urged documentary filmmakers to "break through the barrier of indifference." His own films are filled with beauty, horror, sadism, amorality, joy, and grace nearly unequalled by any artist. In the words of his own 10th commandment for documentary filmmakers: "You will not be content with 'close enough' unless you want to fail spectacularly."
The Seahorse
1934, 35mm, B&W, 15 min
- Music: Darius Milhaud
- Narrator: Ben Danou
- Cameraman: André Raymond
Painlevé's only popular success, he sought to reestablish the balance between male and female by documenting the kindness and virtue of the father in seahorse reproduction.
The Vampire
1945, 35mm, B&W, 9 min
- Music: Duke Ellington
- Cameraman: André Raymond
A documentary on a vampire bat set to the music of Duke Ellington.
How Some Jellyfish are Born (Comment naissent des Méduses)
1960, 35mm, B&W, 14 min
The Lovelife of the Octopus
1965, 35mm, color, 13 min
- Music: Pierre Henry
- Narrator: Clairval
Eerily beautiful film on the surreal spectacle of octopus mating.
Acera or The Witches' Dance
1972, 35mm, color, 13 min
The hermaphrodite is celebrated in this film of mollusk sex and synchronized swimming.
Liquid Crystals
1978, 16mm, color, 7 min
- Music: François de Roubiaux
Asked to document the phenomenon of liquid crystals, Painlevé makes visible the continual transformation of the crystals' forms and colors due to temperature and pressure.
Special thanks to Brigitte Berg and Les Documents Cinématographiques.
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