Ascension and Contempt

Tonight I watched Godard’s Contempt with Davide. It’s the kind of film that benefits from repeat viewings, there are so many ideas and references. Davide seemed a bit overwhelmed by them all, sensitive fellow that he is. Earlier today I worked on editing my video, and after seeing that extraordinary first nude scene with Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli, am eager to get back into the editing room. The project I’ve been working on is not yet titled, but it’s of D walking up my stairs. Not just abstract D, but big hairy identifiably human D. Part of my challenge is balancing his prominent bulkiness with the lovely abstract shots of his hairy expansiveness heaving gently as he breathes. I filmed him walking towards the camera, a step at a time, as we both moved up the stairs, and am cross-fading these shots into each other. A second group of images is of the previously mentioned closeups of his moving hair, and a third from the camera panning across and around his body, also very abstract. There’s a fourth group of the stairs and front door, but I’ll use them only if I veer towards narrative. The abstractions are just lovely–seductive and other-worldly landscapes, but the figurative imagery, in contrast, is almost frightening in its legibility. At this point, I’m not sure if I’m going to keep the recognizable footage, as I’m concerned that the piece may become too much about the tension between how this body is perceived and how I want it to be experienced, rather than just about how I want it to be perceived.