Send Me to the ‘Lectric Chair

Anyone who saw the film installation by Guy Maddin at the IFFR in 2003 entitled Cowards Bend the Knee, knows you can leave the making of unusual films for screening in unusual spaces or in an unusual format to Maddin. This unusual and pleasantly crazy creative film maker does not allow himself to be restrained by what is usual in the film world. For his urban screen, Maddin again worked with the eternally elegant and mysterious Isabella Rossellini, who previously starred in his The Saddest Music in the World and My Dad Is 100 Years Old. This time, in a seven-minute loop we can see how the diva is tied into a wooden electric chair. The power is slowly increased, sparks fly playfully around, smoke curls upwards. As a result of the electrocution, the star actress becomes ecstatic. Appearing one after the other in her petite mort rêverie are excitingly strange images – from objects of desire to melancholy flashbacks. Until the dream goes up in smoke and the film starts again. Maddin: ‘I think I can make the dream stand up to many, many viewings. I’ll make it funny in ways no one can understand. I’ll make it pretty. And I’ll make it dark. And I’ll keep it clean, on the surface anyway. The name of your programme is Size Matters, after all! And of course Isabella will be endlessly watchable! Who hasn’t wanted to see a film beauty go to the chair?!’