1, 2, 3, Whiteout

The film betrays a maker with an unusual background. 1, 2, 3 Whiteout plays an original game with how we think about science and future and refers with equally playful ease to portrayals of the future old and new. Partly thanks to the unusual format for a feature film of 16mm and the retro-setting, the film looks as if it were made in the 1960s or 1970s. The film does not only present a confusing mixture of past and future in its form, the story itself also seems to want to escape time.
Véronique (a striking role by Karine Adrover) undergoes a series of scientific experiments in an old-fashioned kind of future. The experiments are performed by an inventor who is played like a modern Dr Mabuse by cult actor Lou Castel (who has played unforgettable roles in films by Philippe Garrel and Bertrand Bonello).
Alongside feature fragments, the film also comprises various kinds of vignettes and archive footage. The film maker also collected images himself at various places in the world over a number of years, from the Gobi desert to New York's Times Square. The use of music is equally unusual and contributes to the intriguing and alienating mood of the film. At least as much attention has been paid to the sound of the film as to the visual side. The maker rightly calls his film a tone poem. (GjZ)