Eaux d'Artifice
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''Eaux d'artifice'' (1953) is a short
experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...
by
Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927) is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost 40 works since 1937, nine of which have been grouped ...
.


Summary

The film consists entirely of a woman dressed in eighteenth-century clothes who wanders amidst the garden fountains of the Villa d'Este ("a Hide and Seek in a night-time labyrinth") to the sounds of Vivaldi's " Four Seasons", until she steps into a fountain and momentarily disappears.


Production

The film was shot in the Villa d'Este in Tivoli,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. The actress, Carmilla Salvatorelli (not "Carmello"), was "a little midget" Anger had met through Federico Fellini. Anger used a short actress to suggest a different sense of scale, whereby the monuments seemed bigger (a technique he said was inspired by etchings of the gardens in the Villa d'Este by
Giovanni Battista Piranesi Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric ...
).


Inspiration

The title, a play on words, is meant to suggest ''Feux d'artifice'' (''Fireworks''), in obvious reference to Anger's earlier 1947 work. Film critic Scott MacDonald has suggested that ''Fireworks'' was a film about the repression of (the film-maker's)
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
in the United States, whereas ''Eaux d'Artifice'' "suggests an explosion of pleasure and freedom."


Legacy

In 1993, this short film was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


See also

*
List of avant-garde films of the 1950s This is a list of avant-garde and experimental films released in the 1950s. Unless noted, all films had sound and were in black and white. References {{Filmsbygenre Avant-garde 1950s The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly ...


References


External links

*
The entire film on Library of Congress official YouTube channel

''Eaux d’artifice'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010
, pages 481-482 {{Authority control 1953 films United States National Film Registry films Films directed by Kenneth Anger American avant-garde and experimental films 1950s avant-garde and experimental films Films shot in Italy 1950s English-language films 1950s American films