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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
LOUISE BOURGEOIS: THE SPIDER, THE MISTRESS AND THE TANGERINE
Produced & Directed by
Marion
Cajori & Amei Wallach In many art documentaries, you can’t get a good look at the work—or, at the very least, the work seems more alive when you have the chance to see it in person. In contrast, Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine—a mesmerizing new documentary about the brilliant sculptor who, in her late nineties, is still working prolifically—made me experience Bourgeois’ installations intimately. In a strange way, I felt I was getting closer to them than I ever had before. Louise Bourgeois is a rare talent whose work spans the 20th century and straddles the 21st. Born in France in 1911 and based in New York City for most of her working life, her fame hit relatively late in life. It is clear from the very beginning of the film that Bourgeois is a lot like her work—insightful, witty, sophisticated, dark, complex, furious, and imposing. She uses themes from her autobiography—her father’s loathed mistress, her fear of abandonment, explicit and implicit sexuality, and the conflict between her emotions and intellect— to fuel her art. “I inherited my mother’s intellect and my father’s sick heart,” she says. Louise Bourgeois is a heavy, heady exploration of Bourgeois’ psyche, her life, her work, all inseparable from the other. As a documentary, it’s almost too good—it’s so rich that absorbing all of it feels weighty and addling and inspiring and shocking and absorbing, all at once. Bourgeois has the gift, not only of producing important work that speaks directly to the viewer’s unconscious, but of sensitively articulating her own emotional and creative experiences. “The artist has the privilege of being in touch with his or her unconscious,” says Bourgeois, “That is a gift. That is the very definition of sanity." Filmmakers Amei Wallach and Marion Cajori (who unfortunately died of cancer at age 56, in 2006, before this project was completed) began interviewing Bourgeois in 1993, and every detail of the film is authoritative, vibrant, and conscientious. Viewers will get a deep sense of the meaning of the sculptor’s work, both individual pieces and in aggregate. Subtle, masterful filmmaking touches—like playing strains of Laurie Anderson’s creepy O, Superman when Bourgeois’ famous, leggy spider sculptures are shown—allow the viewer total access to Bourgeois’ genius. The portrayal of Bourgeois is raw, bare, and unyielding, yet still reverent. The release of Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine at New York's Film Forum coincides with the opening of a major Louise Bourgeois retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum. Viewers who are lucky enough to see the film first will feel like they’ve spent a few days alone with the artist in her studio, getting deep inside her epic personality and her even more epic work. They will see how she revolutionizes what it means to be a woman, what it means to be an artist, and what it means to grow old.
Louise Bourgeois:
The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine
literally kept me on the edge of my seat. It’s a must-see movie for artists,
for anyone excited about Bourgeois’ work, and for those new to it.
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