JM: Sophie Barthe's
movie was shown at the Rio Movie Festival, in 2009, and most of
the critical reviews I read were unfavourable.
One suggested a mix
of Spike Jonze with Charlie Kaufman's "I
want to be John Malkovich",1999 and CK' and Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine
Of The Spotless Mind," 2003. Another critic added even more names ( I
quote, in translation: "As if Woody
Allen, Sofia Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, Roy Andersson ("Du Levande," 2007) e
Michel Gondry] had all participated in a great cinematographical
orgy"). Another included Stephen Frears run amok sequel to "Pretty,
Dirty Things," 2002 and mentioned Nicolai Gogol ("souls" used
as merchandise). It's true, though, that
Nabokov is not as widely read in Brazil as he is in America and Europe and
therefore it would be a surprise to find a reference to him and any
specific novel of his. As you see it, where lies "the
relationship between The Eye and Sophie Barthes' 2009 film, Cold Souls"?
I greatly admired your works found
at http://gabrielavainsencher.com/?cat=3 , the
soft texture of tissue paper and intense blues and purples, the agile line, the
Magritte irony and a surly Nabokov.
You chose particularly evanescent
materials for your original creation. I wonder if your intention has been to
present particularly frail sets of "souls" - or were they intended to
suggest the easily decomposed human "bodies"? My sensation (that's the
only thing I can write about, not being a painter or draughtsperson myself)
is that your "originals" are all too mortal, and that they demand
access to eternity through endless repetition
(copies).