La Petite Mort
Twenty something Chantal is bored with the mundanity of everyday life and her sexual routine. Seeking excitement, she lets her mind drift, revealing an increasingly surreal, animalistic world. On her voyage, she stumbles upon a mysterious stranger, who may or may not be the remedy she seeks.
La Petite Mort
(France, USA - 2012) HD video (color, sound), 16:43 min.
Screenings: Cinema COBRA, Field Projects Gallery, Cannes’ Short Corner (France), Film Caravan (Italy), Oval Space (England)
Synopsis
Set in Paris, France, ’La Petite Mort’ gives a short glimpse into the imaginative mind of twenty-something Chantal, whose way of seeing the world makes us re-think our everyday. Living by herself in a small unkept Parisian apartment, Chantal embodies the complexities found in the isolation of urbanization and female sexuality. Feeling both sexually frustrated and unsatisfied with life, Chantal creates her own reality. Between dream and reality, allowing her mind to drift, she alters her surroundings into a fantasy where humans have allowed their animal nature to rein.
Director’s Statement
As legislation increasingly obstructs women’s reproductive health in America, essentially their sexual freedom, I feel it’s paramount to establish a cinema for women by women enabling authority over their unique voice and their sexuality. Chantal embodies the complexities found in the isolation of urbanization and female sexuality.
Seeing the world through her eyes, deeper theoretical questions are asked. Such as what if humans ceased to act in a reversed civilized manner, uninhibiting their animalistic desires, removing all restrictions consummated by societies age-old taboos surrounding sex, pleasure, death, menstruation, and food. Toying with George Bataille’s theories from his book ‘L’Erotisme: Death and Sensuality,’ the film plunges into the interconnected relationship between death, sexual pleasure, and sacrifice.
The film attempts traditional absurdist cinema where it’s difficult to differentiate between fantasy and reality as they weave in and out. Exploring the potentials of montage, where juxtaposed images can arouse both the viewer’s emotional and ideological consciousness. Used in both referential flashing images that give further explanation to character dialogue, as well as the larger juxtaposition of reality and fantasy. Showing Chantal’s visions are not only in her head but are cultural obsession in a society structured by words and images
The film is inspired by filmmakers who combine a strong aesthetic with larger questions about society and culture, such as Luis Bunuel, Chantal Akerman, and Micheal Haneke. In addition, Phillips’s way of working is influenced by the cathartic performance art of Carolee Schneeman and Herman Nitsch.
Director Statement
In a film whose discourse surrounds female sexuality, the wild child reminds Chantal of the unavoidable potential result. Whether this is seen as a constant threat or igniting one’s own internal questioning of future motherhood. The child also highlights how Chantal’s tendency to drift into her own fantasy world emulates the innocence and psychological state of a child where such an act is customary.
Still in the park, Chantal sees Pierre off in the distance, but as she walks in his direction, she looses sight of him. The scene switches to Chantal’s bedroom where the two characters attack each other’s bodies in a sexual embrace. It seems Chantal has finally found the answer to her problems. But then suddenly she is alone in her bed as she screeches in release, and the question becomes whether or not Pierre was real.
Chantal embodies the complexities found in the isolation of urbanization and female sexuality in today’s youth. Seeing the world through her eyes, deeper theoretical questions are asked. Such as what if humans seized to act in a reversed civilized manner, uninhibiting their animalistic desires. Removing all restrictions consummated by societies age-old taboos of sex, pleasure, death, menstruation, and food. Toying with George Bataille’s theory of pleasure being the closest thing to death.
The film attempts traditional absurdist cinema where it’s difficult to differentiate between fantasy and reality as they weave in and out. Exploring the potentials of montage, where juxtaposed images can arouse both the viewer’s emotional and ideological consciousness. Used in both referential flashing images that give further explanation to character dialogue, as well as the larger juxtaposition of reality and fantasy. Showing Chantal’s visions are not only in her head but are cultural obsession in a society structured by words and images.
La Petite Mort
Twenty something Chantal is bored with the mundanity of everyday life and her sexual routine. Seeking excitement, she lets her mind drift, revealing an increasingly surreal, animalistic world. On her voyage, she stumbles upon a mysterious stranger, who may or may not be the remedy she seeks.
La Petite Mort
Twenty something Chantal is bored with the mundanity of everyday life and her sexual routine. Seeking excitement, she lets her mind drift, revealing an increasingly surreal, animalistic world. On her voyage, she stumbles upon a mysterious stranger, who may or may not be the remedy she seeks.
Set in Paris, France, ’La Petite Mort’ gives a short glimpse into the imaginative mind of twentysomething Chantal, whose way of seeing the world makes us re-think our everyday. Feeling both sexually frustrated and unsatisfied with life, Chantal creates her own reality. Allowing her mind to drift, she alters her surroundings into a fantasy where humans have allowed their animal nature to rein.