Artaud on film

I similarly found that the narrative style gave the film a documentary feel as opposed to a device to exploit Artaud’s theories. However it was the moment with Collette and Artaud alone in the room, whereby Artaud was continually pushing the actress to repeat the same line over and over that allied particularly to notions of cruelty. As an audience member it was uncomfortable to witness, the voice shrieking the same thing over again was piercing and completely inescapable. The apparent exhaustion of Collette as Artaud pushed her further was unsettling, her whole body was exhausted so his unforgiving attitude to her was cruel.

I would have to agree with previous responses that it was the brief moments of silence that had the most impact. The sequence of Artaud’s funeral was completely in silence, an aspect that added to the magnitude of this moment, and encouraged you to tune in on the images of the scene. Likewise Collette’s performance with the flashing lights void of any sound was interesting, you became acutely aware to the way the light fell and the shadows it created. The sounds of the harmonica that filled the movement between scenes seemed completely at odds to the atmosphere of the rest of the film, and I struggle to find the meaning or purpose behind its insertion.
Finally, I don’t think that the black and white stock particularly added anything to the film, other than maybe enforcing a bleak and dismal atmosphere that equates to Artaud’s state of mind.

With all of this in mind I would have to once again take the easy way out and give the film a moderate… three. I thought the film explored a number of interesting ideas and skimmed over Artaud’s theories, but as mentioned previously the documentary feel, for me, helped highlight how Artaud’s life was so deeply intertwined with drugs. Derrida’s purpose throughout was to find Artaud his drugs, which enabled him to function, the extent to which I hadn’t quite understood previously.

xxx