Meshes of the Afternoon
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Meshes of the Afternoon |
| Original title | Meshes of the Afternoon |
| Country of production | United States |
| Publishing year | 1943 |
| length | 14 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Maya Deren Alexander Hammid |
| script | Maya Deren |
| production | Maya Deren |
| music | Teiji Ito |
| camera | Alexander Hammid |
| cut | Maya Deren |
| occupation | |
| |
Meshes of the Afternoon ( English for loops of the afternoon is) an experimental short film by directors Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid from the year 1943 .
action
The black and white film is without words and has a very brief plot, the interpretation of which is largely left to the viewer. In surreal and hallucinatory images he shows the nightmare of a nameless woman who finally takes her own life. The central motifs and symbols of the film include a flower, a key, a bread knife, a telephone, waving curtains, the sea and a mysterious figure dressed in black.
background
With Meshes of the Afternoon, the couple Deren and Hammid intended to depict psychological problems ( depression , schizophrenia ) in the form of an avant-garde experimental film. The works of surrealist film served as a model, above all An Andalusian Dog by Luis Buñuel .
Maya Deren, who dropped her real name Eleanora Derenkovskaya for this project, drew on personal memories and dreams when writing the script. Was filmed Meshes of the Afternoon with the 16-mm - Bolex camera her father, a psychiatrist , who had great influence on their work. The couple's house on Kings Road in Los Angeles served as the “studio” .
Besides Deren and Hammid, no other people were involved in the making of the film. To this day it is still controversial how large Deren's part of the production really was. Director Stan Brakhage , who knew the couple personally, wrote in his 1991 book Films at Wit's End that Meshes of the Afternoon was primarily Hammid's work. After publication, however, most of the recognition was given to them. Allegedly, their marriage is said to have suffered a lot. They divorced in 1947.
Style and effect
The work makes use of a multitude of cinematic stylistic devices that are intended to illustrate its dreamlike effect and the unreal mood of the plot. So the main character can only be seen as a shadow at the beginning. A hand seems to come out of the sky and disappears into nothing. The restless camera work and the fast cut convey a feeling of dizziness and disorientation.
Also noteworthy is the use of slow motion (the woman runs up the stairs), stop motion (a key turns into a knife) and a split-screen technique that allows the main character to sit across from himself. In addition, the film has a cyclical structure. Many scenes and actions are repeated several times and create a déjà vu experience in the audience .
The film was originally completely silent. It was not until 1959 that it was set to music by the Japanese composer and her third husband Teiji Ito.
Meshes of the Afternoon is one of the first American avant-garde films. He had a great influence on the development of experimental film ( New American Cinema ). Directors who were inspired by the film and who have quoted it in their own work include Kenneth Anger , Stan Brakhage , Jean-Luc Godard and David Lynch . One of the most famous images of the work, which Maya Deren shows at the window, has become an icon of independent film that has been copied many times . In the 1970s , critic James Hoberman described Meshes of the Afternoon as a commentary on film noir .
criticism
“Maya Deren's film is an enigmatic masterpiece through and through. The innovatively designed images, dark and irritating, and the fantastic montage that breaks down all the boundaries of logic and intellect, come together to form a brilliantly functioning film that is meditative and highly lyrical. 'Meshes of the Afternoon' is definitely one of the most beautiful, challenging pieces of film of all time, a surreal, mind-defying poem. "(Björn Last on Filmzentrale.com )
Awards
- 1990 was Meshes of the Afternoon in the National Film Registry added.
Web links
- Meshes of the Afternoon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Review on Filmzentrale.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Höfler, Eva: Physical understanding - movement versus control: Dispositive social behavior , Dipl. Arb., Vienna, 2003, p. 62.