Lover Other: The Story Of Claude Cahun And Marcel Moore (2006)
Docos are tricky. Like short films they can ride (for a while) on the basic legs of a strong story; alternatively they can coast on high production values, smooth editing, and gripping 're-enactments' of key moments. Problems crop up when the story simply lacks interesting material or the production values are so profoundly bad that one feels bolted back into the Blair Witch Project, fighting for stomach control from the awful handheld camera work. So this leads us to the question of whether Lover Other: The Story Of Claude Cahun And Marcel Moore was an okay documentary or not.Sort of both.
Sort of not.
Pros: The story. Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore were surrealist artists in an environment that was highly realist, living in the Isle of Jersey. Their photographs and collages are worth bucketloads of money now as they were during their lives. Universally recognised as leading artists in their time they were also half sisters who were gay and devotedly in love with each other. But it is their protest to German occupation (of the Isle of Jersey, that is) and actions against Hitler that is the sort of stuff that Spielberg would sell limbs for. Every stitch of solid content about these women is wildly interesting.
Cons: Everything else. Every last thing. From the terrible 're-enactments' of a play the two women wrote about themselves to the piss poor pacing to the awful soundtrack to the clearly unplanned interviews with the locals – it's a royal goddamn mess. The filmmaker does not even bother to get half of her interviewees to sit down while she talks to them, much less attempt for some semblance of even lighting. It's a film that trips over itself and has long stretches of footage that do not add to the overall content. Only when the film devotes itself to relaying the history of the sister's reaction to German occupation does it find rhythm and solid footing.
The film is well worth watching, but don't expect tight filmmaking – just a diamond of a story in an ongoing terrain of shoddy and inexperienced tape.—Kim Lesch
Lover Other: The Story Of Claude Cahun And Marcel Moore screened as part of Out Takes 2006: A Reel Queer Film Festival.
» Barbara Hammer | USA | 2006
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