{"id":6672,"date":"2016-11-12T00:22:46","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T23:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=6672"},"modified":"2017-03-20T03:42:17","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T02:42:17","slug":"erotikon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2016\/11\/12\/erotikon\/","title":{"rendered":"Erotikon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"erotikon\"<\/a>
Erotikon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nSeen at Barbican, London<\/a> as part of ‘Made in Prague\/Cheap Thrills’

\nFormat:<\/B> Cinema

\nDirector:<\/B> Gustav Machatý

\nWriter:<\/B> Gustav Machatý

\nCast:<\/B> Ita Rina, Olaf Fjord

\nCzechoslovakia 1929

\n85 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This silent Czech tale of seduction continues to mesmerise with its sensual portrayal of female sexuality. <\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Erotikon<\/i> tells the tale of first love \u2013 the mad kind that makes a good girl throw away all caution. Andrea (Ita Rina) is living a quiet life with her old father at a country railway station. One stormy night, a suave stranger appears and her father kindly invites him to spend the night, only for the man to seduce his daughter while he\u2019s out on his shift. Naturally, the stranger departs the next morning, leaving Andrea with an unwanted pregnancy and an irrational devotion to the slippery playboy. When their paths cross again in the city, will she give up her secure, conventional marriage to risk everything with this womaniser, even as he\u2019s being pursued by another lover\u2019s angry husband?<\/p>\n

Gustav Machatý\u2019s film was famous for its edgy portrayal of sexuality, female sexuality in particular. When Andrea goes to bed after first meeting the stranger and is in the throes of torrid dreams, we observe her through the camera\u2019s (male) gaze, which takes in her upper body, with its erotically extended neck and arms thrown wildly above her head, as well as her bare calves sticking out from under the covers. But when she is actually seduced, the crucial part of the action takes place from her perspective, with delirious point-of-view shots of the man\u2019s intense kohl-lined gaze as he advances on her, and diagonal whip-pans across the walls and furniture as she falls back onto the bed. <\/p>\n

Our sympathy centres on Andrea, while the stranger is a caricature of a vain, opportunistic hedonist with little to recommend him apart from matinee idol looks. Accordingly, it\u2019s Andrea\u2019s actions that are the backbone of the film\u2019s drama, while the stranger\u2019s antics and their effect on jealous husbands are a source of comic relief.<\/p>\n

One of the peculiarities of silent storytelling is the importance it lends to objects. The \u2018Erotikon\u2019 of the title fits the overarching theme of passion, but only appears in the film on the label of a bottle of perfume that the stranger gives to Andrea, the first step in his seduction \u2013 and how interesting that a film that can only directly appeal to one of our senses, sight, uses scent as a catalyst to advance the story. The stranger initially tries to apply the perfume to Andrea\u2019s neck himself; she at first refuses both the gesture and the gift, but finally accepts the bottle. She tries the perfume when she is alone in her room, and we wonder whether it has some kind of magic effect on her, inspiring her wild dreams. When she emerges from her room to answer the phone, the stranger intercepts her, and recommences his seduction by smelling the finger she used to apply the perfume. <\/p>\n

Later, the narrative continues to revolve around objects: Andrea and her husband are thrown together with the stranger when they meet in a piano shop where the stranger befriends her husband by allowing the couple to take the last model of a piano. When Andrea is on the point of deciding between her lover and her husband, the story ricochets between two objects: the goodbye letter that Andrea has instructed a servant to give to her husband at a set time, and the compact that another woman has left on her lover\u2019s bed: one object threatens her conventional life, and the other her dream life of romantic passion.<\/p>\n

The 20th \u2018Made in Prague\u2019 Festival offered a rare opportunity to see this film on 35mm (recently restored by the Czech National Film Archive), with flawless live accompaniment by pianist Thomas Ang, and Lydia Kavina on theremin. One of the earliest electronic instruments, the theremin has a ghostly sound and wonderful range: Kavina (who studied under the instrument\u2019s inventor, Léon Theremin, himself) was able to evoke the deep rumble of a train, piercing notes to accentuate moments of high emotion, and even play jaunty dance tunes \u2013 no easy task when you have no physical contact with the instrument you\u2019re playing. The theremin is an instrument whose vibrato seems very much of its time and perfectly suited to the melodrama of silent film, yet it also feels contemporary: not only is it electronic, but effectively a wireless form of music. <\/p>\n

Alison Frank<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This silent Czech tale of seduction continues to mesmerise with its sensual portrayal of female sexuality.
\nReview by Alison Frank<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,657],"tags":[1390,1126,1391,1393,1392,168],"class_list":["post-6672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-screenings","tag-czech-film","tag-early-cinema","tag-eastern-european-film","tag-female-characters","tag-gustav-machaty","tag-silent-film"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/surUP-erotikon","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5670,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2015\/08\/23\/dragons-return\/","url_meta":{"origin":6672,"position":0},"title":"Dragon’s Return","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"August 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Eduard Gre\u010dner's film is reminiscent of The Seventh Seal, with its timeless bond with the cycles of nature and local superstition. 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