Reine Graves

Reine Graves
photo by Giasco Bertoli
(http://henryroy.blogspot.com/2011_12_01_archive.html)
no copyright infringement intended

I found the image of Reine Graves in a blog dedicated to portraits. For Henry Roy, the blog owner, the portrait is a way to share his personal perception of humanity, through people he loves, or he admires, or he desires, or he appreciates for any other reason (that's the way he's introducing himself, anyway the images in his blog are gorgeous).

Reine Graves is a French filmmaker, listed on imdb with only one movie so far (Rites of Love and Math, co-director, co-scenarist, and co-producer), but she has authored also a number of very short and very avant-garde movies, seemingly not very politically correct (or should we consider them only a bit controversial?) Take for instance her Je vous salue Judas: the title is not exactly the definition of political correctness, you must agree. I found also the information that she got two awards (Premio Pasolini for Je vous salue Judas, and Prix Henri Langlois for Contrast), but I have to say that I am not hundred percent positive on the accuracy, as I need to find also other web places to confirm it.

The movie I would like to discuss in a future post is Rites of Love and Math, a very unexpected replica to the classic The Rite of Love and Death of Mishima. I'm still working to organize in my mind what to write about both movies, of Mishima and of Graves. What I would do now is to put here two very short movies of Reine Graves. The first, Reflets, seems to relate (in a rapid juxtaposition of images, or fragments of images, giving to the whole a totally abstract allure) to some definitory moments of the 20's century. I recognized there echoes from two such moments: in cinematography (the moment Un Chien Andalou), and in politics (the moment Martin Luther King) - but other moments are also alluded there, the horrible experience of the world wars and so on. The second (Marylin) calls maybe in mind Chris Doyle and his Away with Words: the same gorgeous, psychedelic way of flooding in colors, down to voyeurism.

Reflets, by Reine Graves
note: the sound is missing from this copy of the movie
(except if the music of Edith Progue is also experimental)
(http://vimeo.com/15625017)

Marylin, by Reine Graves
(video by Reine Graves)

(Filmofilia)