μεταμορφώσεις

[Jeff Bernstein]

Glowing Hair : Thinking

See Inherent Vice (1:09) / RENOIR, Pierre-Auguste, Woman Reading (1876) / (34kb)

 

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

Fargo (1996) : How Many Film References in One Shot?

 

Add Psycho (1960), 52:23, to Fargo, 24:40–24:53, completing at least a triumverate with The Shining (1980) and Videodrome (1983). And if you like, Poltergeist (1982). And . . . ?

[Jeff Bernstein]

Fargo (1996) : Reason Meets Its Maker

 

Cop : “The Radisson. Oh yeah? Is it reasonable?” (56:12)

 

The scene in Fargo eventually located in the Radisson (1:02:28–1:05:27) is of the same structural vibe as a Diversion Narrative : the forward momentum of the story stops, steps to one side as it were, for the duration of the scene, before the story carries on again.

 

However, the “forward momentum of the story” doesn’t “stop” if we approach the narrative as a continuum of themes. This scene, then, presents one of the film's fundamental themes to the Cop. The film, as it were, anthropomorphizes a theme.

 

The theme is : Whatever is Other to Reason.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Fargo (1996) : the Triple-Tone

 

“I’m going to bed now.” (1:13:13)

 

The triple-tone of Sophocles’s Oedipus, a holy grail of Storytellers, seems radiant in this scene. But we might substitute the Absurd (from Antigone) in place of the Perverse (from Oedipus), and thereby compile an acknowledgement of (1) the Serious (e.g., a child’s future is involved); (2) the Comic (e.g., there's "something funny" about all this—e.g., "Kind of funny-looking . . . in a general kind of way." 1:15:24); (c) and the Absurd—which reveals the abyss on which Reason sets its Foundation. The triple-tone generates a nausea in the Spectator. Leaving the Reasonable brings on a heady rollercoaster falling feeling. And Fargo continues.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Split Personality in Fargo (1996)

 

Recall "You talking to me?" in Taxi Driver and Jack with Grady in Shining : this split-personality Situation may be identified in Fargo. The Protagonist returns home with a corpse in the trunk of his car, and proceeds to remove his boots and declare to his son, "I'm going to bed now." But the boy this man speaks to is never seen : perhaps, like Travis and Jack, Jerry in Fargo is speaking to a voice in his head. Perhaps he is the boy. (1:12:43–11:13:28)

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Dolly Zoom.

 

The cop is speaking on the telephone in a hotel room overlooking a highway. She has become another character associated with bleak transit. During her conversation she discovers the truth about the Unreasonable at the Radisson. During this discovery, a Dolly Zoom executes during : "He's struggling . . ." "Geez . . . that's a surprise."  (1:19:02–1:19:13). That the DZ uses windows anticipates the second dolly zoom in Phantom Thread. Also, this DZ is well-nigh imperceptible.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Q : The End of Reason and the Abyssal Bubble Begins

 

Does the cop in Fargo (1996) end up in a psychological position similar to Jamie Lee Curtis at the end of Halloween (1978)?

 

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Bleak Houselessness

 

Searching amid the barren tree branches for her suspects, the Cop pauses in the snow. The camera moves out right (with adjustments)—and the wickerwork of branches around her have a strange effect on the eye approximating a DZ. (The cyclical movement recalls a Superlative moment of Vertigo.) There seems to be a DZ of one-second duration at 1:27:09. (An adjustment, if you like.) During this, the cop's wide eyes have gone still. What does she hear? (This is the "Don't go forward!" moment in Fargo.) Why might this shot be engineered to seem more of a DZ than it actually is? We’re post-Fassbinder now; and the fierce independence he represented is gone. The world is bleaker now. This is not a DZ. Though the virtuoso camera move approximates an arc, it's "flatter" (so to speak) : because Reason has heard its knell. This bell-shaped shot is itself a knell. (1:28:07–1:28:11)

 

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Fargo (1996) : DZ 1:27:09 : The Stargate

 

Another way of seeing this moment : the one-second DZ adjustment is the transition point between a before and an after. It is a Stargate. A "reasonable world" existed to one side of this adjustment. Beyond its passage is Abyssal knowledge. All security is gone. One-second Stargate / Fassbinder Heaviness / Expression of Pure Bleak / ?  With this one-second DZ, the cop steps into the Beyond.

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Battle on the Ice

 

The killer flees the Cop by running onto the frozen lake at 1:29:02–1:29:31. Just as Kurosawa integrates with Fargo, so does Eisenstein : Alexander Nevsky (1938), with its battle on the frozen lake from 55:27–1:33:05. The Situation recalls Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987) : "The ice is melting right underneath your feet." (1:56:36) Indeed, in Alexander Nevsky the ice cracks at 1:22:05, and soldiers plunge into the death-bringing waters. In bleak Fargo, however, we don't have colossal armies representing the might of tremendous social entities : here we have two people, a one-on-one of Opposing World Views. This Showdown continues the quietly-conveyed Western motif of Fargo, a motif initiated with the opening credit sequence (with its theme of hard country travel, and a Vista Shot). The Western motif, for example, is conveyed in the shot of the Cop returning to Jerry's place of business at 1:19:59–1:20:02; there, the Cop has a John Wayne vibe.

 

Btw, in Alexander Nevsky, the strong rectilinearity of the soldiers on the low horizon at 57:38–58:07 (and throughout), recalls the police in Inherent Vice (22:26–22:36).

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Return of the Slotting into Rectilinearity

 

Peter Stormare raising his head at 1:25:42. Enhancing the effect of gathering strength and threat, his face's right side enters ominous shadow.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Fargo (1996) : One Shot : 1:27:56–1:27:58

 

Does the Cop in the forest evoke vibes of Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), Part 12, 33:47–58:47?

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Tragic Love of Pyramus and Thisbe

Ovid, Metamorphoses, 4.55–165

 

Pyramus and Thisbe!—He, most handsome son of the city,

and she, of all the East, was the single most beautiful girl.

They lived side by side in adjoining houses in the city

ringed round by a high brick wall, home of Queen Semiramis.

Being neighbours, they were known to each other generally

at first; only later their mutual love began to grow.

The two would have joined in marriage but their parents forbade it.

Their parents, however, had no power to stop the love that burned

in the souls of both and cheered them. The two had no go-between,

but spoke in nods and signs. Yet the more they acted civilly

outwardly, all the hotter the fires inside of them burned.

 

The wall their neighbouring houses shared had a small crack in it.

This crack was created when the common wall was built years back,

but for all the time since had gone unnoticed. This crack you two

used as a way to speak together (for what doesn’t love see?)

and often transmitted through its narrow channel your loving

whispers. Often, when arranged in place, Thisbe here, Pyramus

there, they listened to each other’s breathing, and desire grew.

“Oh you jealous wall,” they would say, “why divide lovers this way?

How small a favour it would be, to allow us to embrace,

or even—if not too much to ask—to grant us our kisses!  

Not that we’re ungrateful, mind you; we admit we owe you all :

you send the language of lovers back and forth into our ears.”

 

And so opposite each other fruitlessly they sat speaking,

and at nightfall they said their goodbyes, and each in their own room

leaned to the wall and pressed their lips there, kisses that did not touch.

 

to be continued

[Jeff Bernstein]

Two Dolly Zooms in the First Shot

Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), episode 1 : 1:28–1:56.                                                                                (26kb)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Rewriting Our King Charles

 

“As the Coronation weekend concludes in joy, my wife and I wish to share our sincerest thank you to all who contributed to this special occasion. We pay particular tribute to the many people whose devoted commitment ensured that celebrations in London, Windsor and “further afield” were happy, safe, and enjoyable. To all who joined in celebration—whether at home, at street parties and lunches, or by volunteering in communities—we thank each and every one of you. Knowing we have your support and encouragement, and to experience your kindness expressed in so many ways, has given us the greatest possible Coronation gift. We now rededicate our lives to serving the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and Commonwealth.”

 

Charles R

 

original

 

As the Coronation weekend draws to a close, my wife and I just wanted to share our most sincere and heartfelt thanks to all those who have helped to make this such a special occasion.

 

We pay particular tribute to the countless people who have given their time and dedication to ensuring that the celebrations in London, Windsor and further afield were as happy, safe and enjoyable as possible.

 

To those who joined in the celebrations - whether at home, at street parties and lunches, or by volunteering in communities - we thank you, each and every one.

 

To know that we have your support and encouragement, and to witness your kindness expressed in so many different ways, has been the greatest possible Coronation gift, as we now rededicate our lives to serving the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and Commonwealth.

 

Charles R

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

26 Dolly Zooms in Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), Episode 1

 

“Even the most sensible guy comes to his senses.” (59:00)

 

Here, every DZ contributes to enhancing one or more (at once) of the following character Situations : unease, disorientation, anxiety, conflict, surprise, bewitchery.

 

(a) Shot 1 includes two DZs.

(b) Another shot includes two DZs (1:17:24–1:17:43).

(c) There are two shots each with two DZs : (23:03–24:59) and (1:17:24–1:17:43).

(d) One scene includes four DZs (57:18–1:06:28).

(e) One scene includes three DZs (50:19–55:55).

(f) One DZ (53:51–54:09) may be termed a “Dual DZ”, as first the background moves in at (53:51), then, during adjustments as camera continues to move, at (54:02) the b.g. moves out, until the camera comes to a stop at (54:09).

(g) One DZ (24:57–24:59) presents an elaborate thematic Vision : a character of the mind is caught in a mirror-within-a-mirror : emblem of the labyrinth of thought.

 

1. (1:27–1:39)

2. (1:47–1:57)  

3. (3:47–3:50)  

4. (4:10–4:18)

5. (6:19–6:23)

6. (24:25–24:34)

7. (24:57–24:59)  

8. (35:30–35:42)

9. (37:09–37:17)

10. (37:47–37:47)  

11. (47:12–47:18)

12. (50:46–50:53)  

13. (51:41–51:55)  

14. (53:51–54:09)  

15. (57:21–57:24)

16. (59:16–59:20)

17. (59:21–59:26)

18. (59:28–59:34)

19. (1:07:02–1:07:09)

20. (1:07:22–1:07:54)  

21. (1:08:21–1:08:41)

22. (1:10:42–1:10:48)

23. (1:14:18–1:14:31)

24. (1:17:24–1:17:29)

25. (1:17:37–1:17:43) 

26. (1:09:19–1:19:14)

 

“You can believe in this, you can believe in that, but reality isn’t real.” (1:01:01)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Giray Izcan]

34 pages and no response... except for this response... 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Giray Izcan

[Jeff Bernstein]

Worshiping God was only a pastime

of mine, and only seldom done,

when my discernment lacked wisdom,

with no end to senselessness and error.

 

Now I raise sails and repeat my course

a second time, driving onward

and abandoning my earlier self.

For I see clear skies overhead,

 

when God might otherwise rupture the clouds

with sharp incandescent lightning.

Instead, he drives his colossal horses

through apparently empty air.

 

The earth is now insensible,

when once the wandering waters,

the Styx and the wide sea, enigmatic

and terrible, and the reach of Mount Atlas,

all shook together at his touch.

 

Know that high and low switch places

when he likes, when he returns; the obscure

brightens, while the bold is dropped in dark.

God has all the power at the summit.

 

Fortune shall come screaming across the sky,

tearing the crown off of one head

and setting it on another.

 

Horace, Odes 1.34

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

HAGEN, August Mathias, Sea Bay (1835)        (10kb)

 

See The Seventh Seal, 1:35:35 / Dunkirk, 23:32

 

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

After nightfall Aurora arose, and outshone the starlight,

and sunrays came to dry the frosty grass; and the lovers met

at their usual spot. First, they murmured a quiet lament

for their fate; then, another; and then they made a decision.

 

In the silence of the coming night they’d trick their protectors.

Sneaking out of doors, they’d seek to flee their houses together;

and not their houses only—they sought to flee the city, too.

And that they wouldn’t wander and lose each other on their way

to one another while they crossed the wide-ranging farmfields,

they’d meet at the tomb to Ninus, conveniently hidden

in the shade of a tree. And in that same place stood a second

tree, a tall mulberry spreading branches of snow-white berries;

and a spring of ice-water bubbled nearby. This was their plan,

and it satisfied them. So then they endured endless daylight

till day went down under the waves, and up from the waves came night.

 

Carefully in darkness came Thisbe to turn the door-handle

on its hinge; and she fled unseen, a girl with a veiled face.

She came to the tomb and sat under the tree as prearranged.

Love had made her bold. But see what walks her way! A lioness

fresh from slaughter, her open jaws frothy with the blood of cattle,

stepped up, and began to satisfy her thirst in the waters

of the spring. Babylonian Thisbe saw this in the moonlight.

Then she fled in fear to a dark cave; but as she fled, her face-

veil glided to the earth, and was left behind. The ferocious

lion, her vast thirst now satisfied, padded off to the forest,

and on the way came by chance not to the girl but her veil.

Her bloody mouth tossed and stretched and tore the garment to pieces.

 

 A short time later Pyramus arrived. He saw the deep tracks

of the lion in the dust, and paled at the thought of the beast.

Then he noticed a garment soaked in blood, and recognized it.

 

And he said : “And not one, but two lovers this night shall destroy!”

 

 

to be continued

 

 

Ovid, Metamorphoses, 81–108

[Jeff Bernstein]

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Tragic Love of Pyramus and Thisbe : the Whole Tale

 

Pyramus and Thisbe!—He, most handsome son of the city,

and she, of all the East, was the single most beautiful girl.              `

They lived side by side in adjoining houses in the city

ringed round by a high brick wall, home of Queen Semiramis.

Being neighbours, they were known to each other generally

at first; only later their mutual love began to grow.

The two would have joined in marriage but their parents forbade it.

Their parents, however, had no power to stop the love that burned

in the souls of both and cheered them. The two had no go-between,

but spoke in nods and signs. Yet the more they acted civilly

outwardly, all the hotter the fires inside of them burned.

 

The wall their neighbouring houses shared had a small crack in it.

This crack was created when the common wall was built years back,

but for all the time since had gone unnoticed. This crack you two

used as a way to speak together (for what doesn’t love see?)

and often transmitted through its narrow channel your loving

whispers. Often, when arranged in place, Thisbe here, Pyramus

there, they listened to each other’s breathing, and desire grew.

“Oh you jealous wall,” they would say, “why divide lovers this way?

How small a favour it would be, to allow us to embrace,

or even—if not too much to ask—to grant us our kisses!  

Not that we’re ungrateful, mind you; we admit we owe you all :

you send the language of lovers back and forth into our ears.”

 

And so opposite each other fruitlessly they sat speaking,

and at nightfall they said their goodbyes, and each in their own room

leaned to the wall and pressed their lips there, kisses that did not touch.

 

After nightfall Aurora arose, and outshone the starlight,

and sunrays came to dry the frosty grass; and the lovers met

at their usual spot. First, they murmured a quiet lament

for their fate; then, another; and then they made a decision.

 

In the silence of the coming night they’d trick their protectors.

Sneaking out of doors, they’d seek to flee their houses together;

and not their houses only—they sought to flee the city, too.

And that they wouldn’t wander and lose each other on their way

to one another while they crossed the wide-ranging farmfields,

they’d meet at the tomb to Ninus, conveniently hidden

in the shade of a tree. And in that same place stood a second

tree, a tall mulberry spreading branches of snow-white berries;

and a spring of ice-water bubbled nearby. This was their plan,

and it satisfied them. So then they endured endless daylight

till day went down under the waves, and up from the waves came night.

 

Carefully in darkness came Thisbe to turn the door-handle

on its hinge; and she fled unseen, a girl with a veiled face.

She came to the tomb and sat under the tree as prearranged.

Love had made her bold. But see what walks her way! A lioness

fresh from slaughter, her open jaws frothy with the blood of cattle,

stepped up, and began to satisfy her thirst in the waters

of the spring. Babylonian Thisbe saw this in the moonlight.

Then she fled in fear to a dark cave; but as she fled, her face-

veil glided to the earth, and was left behind. The ferocious

lion, her vast thirst now satisfied, padded off to the forest,

and on the way came by chance not to the girl but her veil.

Her bloody mouth tossed and stretched and tore the garment to pieces.

 

 A short time later Pyramus arrived. He saw the deep tracks

of the lion in the dust, and paled at the thought of the beast.

Then he noticed a garment soaked in blood, and recognized it.

 

And he said : “And not one, but two lovers this night shall destroy!”

Ah, God!—out of all of us how worthy she was of long life!

Can love be so awful? O miseranda, I should have come

here first, and not you! Why did I allow things to be this way?

Tear this skin off my body! Rip me to pieces! Swallow me

up in big bites, you vicious lions who hide in these caves!—Fool!

Weak are those who only wish for death!” So, lifting Thisbe’s veil,

he walked to the meeting place and stood in the shade of the tree.

He noticed there the tears streaming down his face, and pressed his lips

to his lover’s garment, and said : “Now drink in my blood as well.”

 

He unsheathed his sword and sank the iron into him below

his ribs; then, enraged, without delay he yanked out the warm blade

before he died. Then he fell onto his back onto the earth,

where his blood leapt up aloft and high-reaching, as when a pipe

cracks, and narrow jets of water spurt out through the opening,

beating time with every burst. The slaughter sprayed the mulberries

hanging on the branches, painting them a dark colour. His blood

moistened the soil down to the roots and dyed them the same deep-red.

 

Now comes Thisbe from out of her hiding place in fear and dread

that her lover might miss her. Both her eyes and soul seek the boy

in the dark, as eagerly she awaits to relate the dangers

she faced for him. Reaching the meeting place she recognizes

the spot, and the shape of the tree, but is puzzled by the colour

of its berries. So she wonders if this is the meeting place.

 

Standing in perplexity, she sees something down by her sandals

—a bloody body quivering. She steps back, paler than the wood

of the box-tree; and a shiver inflames her as the surface

of the sea vibrates in a breeze; for it is her lover she sees.

 

Thisbe shrieks, struck to the heart with the horror, then beats her breast,

tearing wildly at her hair. Then she falls and embraces

the body of her lover, and her dropping tears fill his wounds,

and mix with his blood. Then his lips, gone cold in death, receive her lips.

 

“Pyramus!” she quietly cried. “What took you away from me?

Pyramus! Answer me! It is your dearest Thisbe who calls you.

Hear me and show me your face!” And, hearing the name of Thisbe,

the heavy eyes of the dying Pyramus opened, then closed.

 

But in that one last moment he saw her. They saw each other.

 

Then Thisbe recognized her ruined veil, and the empty

ivory sheathe at his side. “Your own hand,” she said, “and your love

took your life! O my unhappy Pyramus, I am as strong

as you are in my hand! And I am as strong as you in love!

This gives me the strength to follow you into the afterlife!

 

Death! Not even death has the power to keep us from each other!

 

I think of the many miseries we’re giving our parents.

Yet may they recognize our love, finally, now joined in death,

and not entomb us apart from one another. And you, tree,

who covers over one miserable body, will soon cover two.

May a sign of our ending stay with you always; and your fruit

keep its dark colour, suitable for grief, as a memory

of our double death.”

 

                                      So she spoke, and applied the tip of the sword

under her breast and leaned into it, and the blade was still warm

with her lover’s blood as it ran through her. And as it happened,

her prayers touched the gods, and touched the parents, too,

for the colour of the mulberry is a deep-red when ripe,

and what remains from the two fires lay at rest in one urn.

 

 

Ovid, Metamorphoses, 55–164.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Fat Man and Little Boy (1989), 1:59:36

[Jeff Bernstein]

Return of The Cone

Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), opening credits