The director plunges us into the feelings of a woman tormented in her flesh by an irresistible obsession against which she struggles in vain. The extract is divided into two parts: The time of obsessive and imperious desire, and the time of carnal encounter and ecstasy. In a large room, a woman is playing the piano, the view is partially obstructed by a grille, giving the sensation that she is being watched by an inquisitive eye. The camera moves slowly towards her, reinforcing a sense of disquiet. The viewer is plunged into an eerie atmosphere that evokes the imminence of an attack: a curtain is gently lifted, evoking an invisible presence. Then the rhythm of the editing accelerates to the rhythm of the music: shots of the young woman's tormented face alternate with repetitive shots of the objects that surround her and evoke a captive sensuality: statuettes of horses, immobilised in their gallop, paintings, a vase... The sexual attraction is dramatised (especially as it is an illegitimate desire) at the moment when she decides to rejoin her lover, breaking the ties with morality and convention. The storm rises outside, shaking the branches of the trees, the music fades away. She rises abruptly, a white, spectral silhouette standing out against the blackness that fills the screen, irresistibly drawn by the light escaping from a skylight, to her lover's home. A break in tone begins at this point: the rhythm slows down: the man and the woman stare at each other for a moment and then, once the bodies are reunited, the field against field disappears. The point of view shifts to focus on her sensations and a succession of close-ups and shots take the viewer into her interiority: the reversed perspective, the blurred sensuality that emanates from these black and white images, the light that envelops the actress' skin in a supernatural halo evoke the ecstasy she experiences under her lover's embrace. The camera seems to be magnetised by the body and face of the actress whose acting remains minimal and sober. This mythical extract is considered the first sexual intercourse and the first female orgasm shown on screen, giving the film a sulphurous reputation and profoundly marking the career of Hedi Lamar who was constantly referred to this experience, well beyond her other artistic or scientific talents... As if to defy fate and reclaim her image, she nevertheless decided, bravely, to title her autobiography.
Comment
The director plunges us into the feelings of a woman tormented in her flesh by an irresistible obsession against which she struggles in vain. The extract is divided into two parts:
The time of obsessive and imperious desire, and the time of carnal encounter and ecstasy.
In a large room, a woman is playing the piano, the view is partially obstructed by a grille, giving the sensation that she is being watched by an inquisitive eye. The camera moves slowly towards her, reinforcing a sense of disquiet. The viewer is plunged into an eerie atmosphere that evokes the imminence of an attack: a curtain is gently lifted, evoking an invisible presence. Then the rhythm of the editing accelerates to the rhythm of the music: shots of the young woman's tormented face alternate with repetitive shots of the objects that surround her and evoke a captive sensuality: statuettes of horses, immobilised in their gallop, paintings, a vase... The sexual attraction is dramatised (especially as it is an illegitimate desire) at the moment when she decides to rejoin her lover, breaking the ties with morality and convention. The storm rises outside, shaking the branches of the trees, the music fades away. She rises abruptly, a white, spectral silhouette standing out against the blackness that fills the screen, irresistibly drawn by the light escaping from a skylight, to her lover's home. A break in tone begins at this point: the rhythm slows down: the man and the woman stare at each other for a moment and then, once the bodies are reunited, the field against field disappears. The point of view shifts to focus on her sensations and a succession of close-ups and shots take the viewer into her interiority: the reversed perspective, the blurred sensuality that emanates from these black and white images, the light that envelops the actress' skin in a supernatural halo evoke the ecstasy she experiences under her lover's embrace. The camera seems to be magnetised by the body and face of the actress whose acting remains minimal and sober. This mythical extract is considered the first sexual intercourse and the first female orgasm shown on screen, giving the film a sulphurous reputation and profoundly marking the career of Hedi Lamar who was constantly referred to this experience, well beyond her other artistic or scientific talents... As if to defy fate and reclaim her image, she nevertheless decided, bravely, to title her autobiography.