Italian Premiere
Thursday 25 January, 18:30 Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi
In partnership with Lobster Films and MUBI, Fashion in Film Festival is proud to present a newly mastered cut of rushes created in 1964 in preparation for Henri-Georges Clouzot’s film Inferno, which was never finished. Together with his cinematographers Andréas Winding, Armand Thirard and Claude Renoir, Clouzot staged seemingly endless kinetic and optical experiments focusing primarily on actress Romy Schneider performing simple, seductive actions in carefully composed mises-en-scène. These ‘filmic portraits’ of Schneider invite a comparison with Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, created around the same time. Although Clouzot’s intentions and working methods were very different from Warhol’s, he too was fascinated by the potential of a screen test – an otherwise rudimentary studio device used to determine an actor’s photogenic appeal – as a stand-alone study of ephemeral and sometimes involuntary gestures, with a unique, almost unsettling temporality. In focusing on moments of holding a pose, rather than acting, he too was exposing the person behind the actor. Though here of course the actor and their dress were treated as a screen on which to project coloured lights, shadows and patterns. Departing from Serge Bromberg’s critically acclaimed documentary about the making of Clouzot’s film (2009), The Inferno Unseen focuses solely on Clouzot’s intoxicating visions, allowing them to build up their own momentum as they unfurl in all their glory.
Running time 60 minutes.
Live music performed by Rollo Smallcombe
The newly mastered edit was created by Rollo Smallcombe and Marketa Uhlirova, and was co-produced by Marketa Uhlirova at Fashion in Film Festival, Kiri Inglis at MUBI, and Serge Bromberg and Maria Chiba at Lobster Films. The edit exclusively features film rushes for Henri-Georges Clouzot’s unfinished film Inferno (1964), left behind in 185 cans at the CNC Archive and re-discovered by Lobster Films in 2007. With Romy Schneider, Serge Reggiani, Dany Carrel, Jean-Claude Bercq, Jacques Gamblin, Bernard Stora, Brigitte Bardot and others. Cinematography by Andréas Winding, Armand Thirard and Claude Renoir. Costumes by Jacques Fonteray. The edit incorporates voice recordings of Serge Bromberg for Monocle’s podcast The Cinema Show (March 2017).