| Goldframe (1969) |
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Goldframe (1969) " For this film, Servais temporarily leaves his 'silent' universe, to introduce dialogue as a vital element. It is also the first film which can be said to be explicit about its target. Whereas his previous films could still be considered as 'children's' films, "Goldframe" is definitely a film for an adult audience. It all begins with the sound of a telephone ringing. A conversation takes place between Jason Goldframe, Hollywood mogul, hidden behind his desk, and a man called Ted, whom we never actually see. Goldframe wants him to finish his film - the first to be made in 270mm - "by the first of ...", failing to be more precise. The tone is set: mister Goldframe is someone who likes to give orders and who wants to be obeyed. Made in a hectic rhythm, nervously edited in a jolting style, playing with sharp black-and-white contrasts, light and shadow and using a jazz tune dominated by percussion, Servais uses a caricatural image much like in cartoons and comics, but he goes a lot further by pushing to its ultimate limits the equality between the real subject (the neurosis of an individual who wants to surpass himself at all cost) and a form which totally transcends the simplism of the initial plot. Even though the film received world-wide appreciation, and though it won some important prizes (it was selected for Cannes), it also provoked some quite unexpected reactions: Servais being suspected of anti-semitism. " |
