Saturday January 28, 4:00pm
Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
Clara van Gool’s COUP DE GRACE is a screen adaptation of ÖLELÉS, a duet that has toured to 30 countries with dancers Jordi Cortes Molina and Damian Muñoz. See clip of stage duo.
“Embers,” Sandor Marai’s novel of 1942, translated with much buzz in 2001, inspired the making of the Molina/ Muñoz duet ÖLELÉS in 2003. A fascinating, compelling drama, “Embers” also inspired a play produced in 2006, starring Jeremy Irons, written by Christopher Hampton (LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES). Midway through “Embers,” the more aristocratic of the two characters points out that the words for kill and embrace (ölelés) have the same root in Hungarian. He delivers a monologue, polished over 40 years of separation from his childhood friend who vanished one day after a love triangle was revealed. We can only imagine the response of his friend who sits in silence, except to retort once, “Why do you ask? You already know the answer.” But as dancers in COUP DE GRACE, the two men are constantly responding, reacting and provoking each other. They move with a keen awareness of each other as only a couple, who know each other deeply, can.
Other Clara van Gool videos presented by DOCF are: ENTER ACHILLES, a screen adaptation of a choreography by dv8; NUSSIN, which brings to mind sparkly stilettos preposterously stabbing the snow; BITINGS & OTHER EFFECTS, REIMERSWAAL, and ZIKR, which takes us to Chechnya, to experience an all male circle dance, a fierce ritual to attain a communal altered state. Clara is now working on a feature inspired by Henry James’ 1903 novella, “The Beast in the Jungle,” whose main character is plagued by his conviction that something terrible is going to happen to him.
No Comments