Movie spotlight
Puce Moment
This film resulted from the unfinished short film Puce Women. The film opens with a camera watching 1920s style flapper gowns being taken off a dress rack. The dresses are removed and danced off the rack to music. (The original soundtrack was Verdi opera music; in the 1960s, Anger re-released the film with a new psychedelic folk-rock soundtrack performed by Jonathan Halper.) A long-lashed woman, Yvonne Marquis, dresses in the purple puce gown and walks to her vanity to apply perfume. She lies on a chaise lounge which then begins to move around the room and eventually out to a patio. Borzois appear and she prepares to take them for a walk.
Insights
Plot Summary
This short experimental film is a vibrant and surreal collage of found footage and staged scenes. It captures a moment of decadent, almost dreamlike homoeroticism among a group of glamorous men, featuring snippets of historical footage and contemporary performance. The film is known for its distinctive use of color and its exploration of themes of desire and ephemeral beauty.
Critical Reception
Puce Moment is highly regarded within avant-garde cinema circles as a seminal work by Kenneth Anger. While it's not a mainstream film, it is celebrated for its artistic innovation, its daring exploration of queer themes in its era, and its striking visual style. Its influence can be seen in subsequent experimental and queer filmmaking.
What Reviewers Say
Visually stunning and artistically daring.
A groundbreaking exploration of desire and identity.
Hypnotic and highly influential experimental short.
Google audience: Information on Google user reviews is not readily available for this highly specialized experimental film.
Fun Fact
The film's title, 'Puce Moment,' refers to a reddish-brown color, which is often evoked by the film's saturated and stylized Technicolor aesthetic, particularly in its use of lighting and filters.
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