Elle

Director: Cynthia Madansky
Cinematographer: Carolyn Macartney, Merve Kayan
Dancers: Eleanor Hullihan, Katy Pyle, Beth Gill, Emily Wexler
Editor: Geoff Pugen
Music: Zeena Parkins
16 mm ◊ 15 min.

Shot on black and white 16mm, as if film out of time, Elle is by turns city symphony, psychodrama, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an act of catharsis, A companion of sorts to Alex and José (2007) the film is a project that looks at once backwards and forwards, echoing the work of specific artistic forebearers, most notably Maya Deren, while the first of many subsequent projects to employ collaborations with choreographers and dancers.

Choreographed by Eleanor Hullihan and Katy Pyle, who perform alongside dancers Beth Gill, Emily Wexler in mournful but edifying consideration of gender, movement, and space, of restriction and freedom. Elle is a film that poses many questions: How do these same bodies exist and move in domestic spaces, in natural spaces, or in the urban environment? How do they exist alone or with others? To this extent, it is no coincidence that alongside the repeated act of falling and rising we constantly see the performers leaning against one another in an act of physical support. In one particularly sly and evocative passage we even see figures at the zoo, reflecting on questions of captivity predicated on gender rather than specie. Lest the above seem overly leaden, the filmmaking retains a deft and playful touch in its use of analogue, in-camera effects, ranging from plays with shutter speed and single-frame exposures.