Going to Bed Under Difficulties (Le Déshabillage impossible)

France, 1900. Director Georges Méliès.

Grotesque situations based entirely around clothes’ rebellion and subversion were championed in this Georges Méliès’ eccentric mise-en-scènes that combined elements of theatrical performance with cinematic editing methods. Here the “victims” were travellers in hotel rooms, also played by Méliès himself. In Going to Bed Under Difficulties clothes stubbornly refuse to leave their wearer. Their constant reappearance on the exasperated man’s body – a repetitive cycle that nevertheless does not repeat the clothes – and their subsequent removal and placement on hooks behind him is an amusing travesty, as well as an impressive showcase of commodities, in this case, a comprehensive gentleman’s wardrobe around 1900.

For further reading, see Lynda Nead’s essay Georges Méliès’s Le déshabillage impossible and Ferdinand Zecca’s Monsieur et Madame sont pressées.

Past screenings

Between Stigma and Enigma – London
Tuesday 16 May 2006, 20:30 | ICA Cinema

The 1st Fashion in Film Festival – Prague
Thursday 28 October 2006, 20:30 | Kino Světozor

The 1st Fashion in Film Festival – New York
Saturday 17 March 2007, 14:00 | Museum of the Moving Image

The 1st Fashion in Film Festival – Arnhem
Sunday 17 June 2007, 14:00 | Focus