Mont Blanc Sings The Blues

This is a review of Alps (Alpeis) (2011)

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2015 (3 to 13 September)
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1 January

This is a review of Alps (Alpeis) (2011)

Not intending, in these first paragraphs, to tell the film, but indicate its significance, one can say that Alps (Alpeis) (2011) opens in the same place, and way, as it closes. Shortly afterwards, there are terrible, very specific threats made to the young gymnast whom we have seen performing (Ariane Labed¹), if she ever doubts again her coach’s (Johnny Vekris’) judgement that she is not ready to dance to pop yet. It is an overt and watchful assertion of assumed power (which is not directly challenged, but through underground measures of a certain naivety² – please see below).

Perhaps not best characterized to ourselves, in naturalistic terms, as the clumsy attempt of the coach, as an egocentric and proud man, to deal with losing face by putting the other three present in fear of reprisals – the fact that they are out of all proportion is the given undercurrent to what happens in this film : the ever-present possibility that one might be found to be in disfavour is what gives an edge of almost Pinteresque proportions to much of the dialogue.

Shortly after confronting the gymnast, the coach puts forward the fatuous suggestion that all four of them should collectively be Alps, and invites the others to say which one they want to be. As well as dealing straight off with the question of the title, this moment is a microcosm, as one chooses Monte Rosa (they are well versed in mountains), and so on. Maybe more by luck than judgement, this leaves him to stake a claim to Mont Blanc, and dominate by his comments about its – and so his – status.

One emphasis in what is expected of them, as with training the body in gymnastics to perform seamless and exact sequences of movements, is on repetition, on getting the words (one’s part) right, otherwise menaces have been made that may be realized – they may not be hanging offences, but we perceive that they could be hanging upside-down offences. Or can one buck the trend or current by pretending to comply² ? That is what Angeliki Papoulia – a nurse and the main character of the four whom we follow³ - tries, and one thing that she succeeds in doing is by buying, apparently through sex, the agreement of the ambulance man (Aris Servetalis) that the young gymnast should be allowed to perform to pop.


The idea and practice of play-acting goes back long before recorded Time, with European examples in the tradition of the Feast of Fools (especially in France) and The Lord of Misrule (also Abbot or King) in late-mediaeval and early-Tudor England. For some, in a film such as Holy Motors (2012), play-acting is something new (and not, heavily reliant on dazzling with what is little more than make-up and prosthetics, a slender conceit on which a whole film desires to found itself), whereas Alps takes it in its stride, and does not try hanging a film on it.)

What form play-acting takes in the film will not be told, but, as we start with a gymnast, one could think mysteriously in terms of a sporting substitution in a team game. The how and why of that, and the significance of who the substitute is, are what the film revolves at its heart, as is the continuing disquiet that the workplace is another nexus of domination : in a way that suggests menace, we hear an enquiry about coffee-mugs, where it seems that something less everyday and innocent is actually being talked about. More effective than The Lobster, for its opacity and lasting registration in the memory, Alps challenges as the best of cinema, theatre and prose can.

Finally, #UCFF completes a Yorgos Lanthimos trio of Alps¹ (Alpeis) (2011) and Kinetta² (2005) with Dogtooth (Kynodontas) (2009) :

All better than Deer - or Lobster !

¹ Seen at @CamPicturehouse (in 2013 ?), and not yet re-watched...

² Seen on DVD in May 2018 (and re-watched).

— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) March 5, 2020

End-notes

¹ She also appears in The Lobster (2015), which this film’s director, Yorgos Lanthimos, likewise co-wrote with Efthymis Filippou.

² Which The Lobster¹ makes an even larger part of its remit.

³ Although this blog’s review of The Lobster effectively suggests that we may be mistaken about the person whom we are following, there is the same principle there as to the point of view in the film’s being predominantly one person’s.



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Unless stated otherwise, all films reviewed were screened at Festival Central (Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge)

Interview with Gerry Fox and Marc Quinn about Marc Quinn : Making Waves (2014)

Interview with director Gerry Fox and artist / subject Marc Quinn* about Marc Quinn : Making Waves (2014)

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2015 (3 to 13 September)
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

Interview with director Gerry Fox and artist / subject Marc Quinn* about Marc Quinn : Making Waves (2014) on Thursday 23 July 2015 at The Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge (@CamPicturehouse)

The Agent Apsley :
So, I’m here [on the mezzanine at The Arts Picturehouse (@CamPicturehouse)] with Gerry Fox. We’re going to talk about, um, Mark Quinn : Making Waves – they’re just watching the end of the film at the moment, and Marc is going to join us for a few questions at the end.

Uh, Gerry, so how did, um – I know, and I saw, and I watched your South Bank Show, um, programme with Marc. (Gerry assents) Very, very different.

Gerry Fox :
Completely.

The Agent Apsley :
In style.

Gerry Fox :
Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
Was that, sort of, the sort of Melvyn Braggery of the time, that the artist is a, sort of (Brief pause) performer ? Or was that from you ?

Gerry Fox :
No, that was from me. That was the only time that the South Bank Show ever went that far in terms of allowing a director to collaborate with an artist, to create an almost stylized art-film.

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah.

Gerry Fox :
Very out of the ordinary on the South Bank Show, that kind of film, and was, by their standards—

The Agent Apsley :
But there were always, sort of, hints of it, weren’t there ?

Gerry Fox :
Yes, abolutely. So, in that one – I’d done it with Gilbert and George, I’d done that kind of collaborative thing with other artists, uh, Christian Boltanski – people like that, who could play with you. The thing with Marc was to try and make the whole thing a journey (Slight pause) through the, the subconscious.

The Agent Apsley :
And the, sort of, this medico—

Gerry Fox :
Yes, all set in hospitals. Well, that’s because there was that underlying thing in his work…

The Agent Apsley :
How did that work, how did you get access to the hospital ?

Gerry Fox :
It was an old, it was an old, abandoned hospital – when we got hold of it, yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
But, of course, you also, with the Young British Artists, you also associate Damien Hirst with…

Gerry Fox :
Yes. Medical, and death, all that. Exactly. Yeah, they both play with a lot of those ideas.

The Agent Apsley :
And there’s, sort of, Ken Russellish feel a bit… ?

Gerry Fox :
Yes, absolutely – it was very much out of that tradition (The Agent assents) of the arts, the arts programme, but taking it to its absolute limits (The Agent assents) : very stylized.

The Agent Apsley :
OK, so I watched that, and there’s a lot of resource on Marc’s web-site (Gerry assents) which I’m grateful for. (Pause) Um, but turning to this film, it’s, it’s obvious from one shot – I think that it’s the one in the gym – that… you’re… filming – is it a digital SLR that you were using… ?

Gerry Fox :
Yeah, a Canon 5D camera.

The Agent Apsley :
So, the same camera that Marc— ?

Gerry Fox :
Yes, uses himself – exactly.

The Agent Apsley :
So, was that what you shot on throughout ?

Gerry Fox :
Yes.

The Agent Apsley :
Because it seems to have a lot of manoeuvrability.

Gerry Fox :
Yes, I mean, I – what I realized with that camera was, was two things : one, it does have the ability to give you that lovely, shallow depth of field, so you get a very nice quality of image, and – that was the first thing – and the second thing was that, because it looks like a camera (because it is a camera), you become much more unobtrusive, and so you can get a much more intimate style, because a lot of people think that you’re actually just taking pictures.

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah.

Gerry Fox :
And, in fact, you’re filming.

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah.

Gerry Fox :
So, it revolutionized what you can do, which is what allowed this film to happen.

The Agent Apsley :
And, even, I mean, with the – at the San Giorgio exhibition, with you, sort of (The Agent puffs) unfortunately clouting the curator on the head…

Gerry Fox :
Yeah, yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
I mean, we had that, sort of, unnecessary level of intimacy.

Gerry Fox :
Yeah, well, it was an accident – I didn’t mean to…

The Agent Apsley :
And, in the Q&A, we’re going to go into, sort of, some of the aspects of the style of the film. (Gerry hums) And, if it’s OK with you two (Marc Quinn has joined us), what I want to do is to make a clear… division – because I think that it’s helpful with documentaries (which is what I specialize in, um, doing Q&As for) – it’s helpful to distinguish between the making and the content.

Gerry Fox :
Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
So, I’m going to ask people to focus on the making – I mean, the fact that it’s an artefact – and I hope that that, sort of, figures with your, your sort of artistic practice…, Marc. To, to, to, to…

Marc Quinn :
I don’t know what you mean…

The Agent Apsley :
Well, to remember – well, um, I’ll go into it in more detail in the Q&A.

Gerry Fox :
Bring it up in the Q&A !

The Agent Apsley :
Um (Pause). So, what advantages, other than the ones you mentioned, would you say that there are to using an SLR like that – but what disadvantages are there ?

Gerry Fox :
Well, the advantages are the obvious ones that I’ve explained – that you have an intimacy, you’re more unobtrusive, and you can just go with the flow, and I could also – didn’t have to have a whole crew, following me around, and it meant that you didn’t have to do whole days of filming.

The Agent Apsley :
Yes.

Gerry Fox :
You could do half a day here, a half a day there, when things that were interesting were happening.

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah.

Gerry Fox :
The disadvantages were, were, were technical : that it’s quite a hard camera to operate on your own. It’s also, um, you know, batteries would run out at a key moment, memory-cards would suddenly be full at the wrong one. You also have a microphone switch, you know, often, you know, you’d end up that you’ve forgotten to turn it on… (The Agent laughs) Um, you know, it’s all the technical things that you normally have a soundman who’s concentrating on it, and a cameraman…

The Agent Apsley :
You’ve got to do it all !

Gerry Fox :
And you’ve got to do the interviewing ! You’ve got to do everything. So, those are the disadvantages.

The Agent Apsley :
So keeping your wits – did you—?

Gerry Fox :
You had to keep your wits about you.

The Agent Apsley :
Did you have a sort of check-list of, or would that… ?

Gerry Fox :
In my head, (Agent assents) I would start thinking, Have you turned the mike on, have you done this, have you done this ? So you had to, sort of, think Crikey, I’m the cameraman, the sound-man, and I’m the, the, the director, and the interviewer (Laughs), you know, so it was, it was..., but you get used to it.

The Agent Apsley :
Sure. So did… ? (Pause) We’ve mentioned the Melvyn Bragg (Gerry assents) South Bank Show—

Gerry Fox :
That was the start of a friendship…

The Agent Apsley :
That was the start of the friendship ?

Gerry Fox :
Yes, because we spent so much time making that film—

The Agent Apsley :
So, were you introduced… to each other, or how did you come…?

Gerry Fox :
We met, uh, er, on another South Bank Show – which you can watch, if you want – it was, which was a fifteen-minuter, which was made with a young director, but which I was very involved as a producer, and all that. With Marc, a few years before that…

The Agent Apsley :
Yes.

Gerry Fox :
When he’d famously made a head, a shit-head.

The Agent Apsley :
Yes !

Gerry Fox :
And it became quite a legendary think on television, nobody’d ever seen that before, so it was quite shocking – and that was the start, and then that’s how we first met, and then the idea was to do this, the one that we did, and then, then we, we, we became friends, and so… (Pause) So, that was why he [Marc] allowed me to do this film, because I don’t think that he would have done it with anybody….

The Agent Apsley :
At the time of the, of the acquisition of the previous blood-head, as they are sometimes seem to be called – the Self, from, uh, 2001, I think that it was – by the National Portrait Gallery, that, the shit-head, was being talked about in that interview (Gerry assents) with Tim Marlow…

Gerry Fox :
Oh, yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
Which I listened to on… Marc’s web-site (Gerry assents). So, um. (Pause) So, you’ve been friends, then, for fifteen-odd years… ?

Gerry Fox :
Yes. Yeah, we’ve gone on holiday, we’ve done a lot of stuff together—

The Agent Apsley :
‘Cause, I mean, I remember talking to—

Gerry Fox :
Which is unusual, ‘cause I haven’t actually, uh, you know, I haven’t, you know, all these years – twenty years – I made South Bank Shows and films for Channel 4 and so on, but very rare that you became friends with the people whom you made films about.

You tended to move on – the thing that had gelled you together has gone, and your lives separated – largely because they were mostly older than me. Marc was one of the few people whom I made who was contemporary to me (The Agent assents), so, you know, that—

The Agent Apsley :
Well, one of the things that I’m going to… dwell on more in the Q&A is that it feels a bit like a, sort of, buddy movie…

Gerry Fox :
A little bit. We wanted it to be a bit of a buddy movie…

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah.

Gerry Fox :
I think that we, we felt that what we wanted to do is to make it a little entertaining, kind of – you know, rock-and-roll, buddy movie, travelling around the world, seeing what, what the artist, the rock-and-roll artist does… for a living.

The Agent Apsley :
Yep. (Slight pause) And now, I’ve reminded myself : I completely forgot, in my intro, to tell them that they were going to hear the word ‘cunt’, so they will have heard the word ‘cunt’ by now, but, never mind, I’m sure that they…

Gerry Fox :
Sure. (Slight pause) We’ll, we’ll apologize.

The Agent Apsley :
They can cope with a Thursday-evening… (Quick internal check on when the film is due to end running)

Gerry Fox :
You can always grab me afterwards for a few more. (Calls for Marc) Anything else you want to ask me ? (No response from Marc) You can always ask me a few more… (Pause) Why don’t you record everything in the Q&A, as well, because that’ll… ?

The Agent Apsley :
I’ll try to, yeah. Um (Long pause), one thing towards the end of the film, we’ve got that moment where Marc’s splattering the canvas, and gets your shoe – and it’s a very human re—, ‘You cunt !’.

Gerry Fox :
Yeah, sorry – as you know, as I said to you, I should…

The Agent Apsley :
We talked about it…

Gerry Fox :
I should have bleeped it out.

The Agent Apsley :
Um, but it’s at that point in the film, those last ten minutes, where you seem to get to some gritty questions…

Gerry Fox :
Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
About do people expect (Gerry assents) the artist’s hands (Gerry assents) to be on it… ?

Gerry Fox :
Yeah. Yeah, maybe one left it too late ?

The Agent Apsley :
Was… Were those things that you’d explored before, in your friendship, or were they – were you being a bit devil’s advocate, with those… ?

Gerry Fox :
No, I think that what happened was, you know, I’d made the film I was making, and I wanted it, really – in the early parts—

The Agent Apsley :
Were you searching for… ?

Gerry Fox :
Being provocateurish, and, sort of, teasing him (The Agent assents), and being a bit cheeky, because I wasn’t really sure… where this film was going (The Agent assents), and what I…

The Agent Apsley :
You were looking for an ending… ?

Gerry Fox :
Exactly, but then, in the middle of it, it settled down to be more of a, an, an observational film (The Agent assents), in a way – watching the artist. But, towards the end, I realized that there were questions that people would want to ask – you know, the ‘hand of the artist’ issue – you could see him, with all these different people who, who were, were making the stuff, you know, these fabricators, and people might want to know ‘Why doesn’t he… ?’, you know. So that seemed like an obvious thing, to, to delve into, so those questions came up towards the end of the film, and, um, felt like they needed, um, some answering. So that was…

The Agent Apsley :
So, that’s where they found their natural place ?

Gerry Fox :
Yeah. I think so, and I think also that it’s better by the end, because, if he’d felt (Marc is with us now) that I was sort of becoming this challenging guy throughout the film, he might have actually called quits on it…

The Agent Apsley :
(Loudly) H’mm…

Gerry Fox :
I think that you have to be quite careful, if you are, you know, spending a year—

The Agent Apsley :
(To Marc) Did, did you feel that ? Did you feel that, Marc, that there was… ?

Marc Quinn :
Well, I mean, if it – I knew that it would be more of a collaboration…

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah.

Marc Quinn :
That we were both wanting the same thing, something interesting and new and different. If it had been, like, Gerry asking me some questions all the time… (Inaudible)

Gerry Fox :
Yeah, yeah, he may well have called it quits on it (The Agent assents), because, actually, why do you want that… ?

The Agent Apsley :
Good, good, good call, on your part, then ?

Gerry Fox :
Yeah, I think so – and I think that you sense it…

The Agent Apsley :
Yes.

Gerry Fox :
You sense it. So, I’m near the end, now (The Agent assents), and he knows he’s done it…

The Agent Apsley :
It feels…

Gerry Fox :
You can actually hit it—

The Agent Apsley :
‘Cause, actually, you’re on the street in… – I can’t remember where it is, ‘cause, you know, you probably have a better sense of the chronology, except that your busy lives – well, God knows… Ah ! But is it on the street in Istanbul (Gerry assents), you’re saying, ‘We’ve done the twelve months’ (Gerry assents), we’ve—

Gerry Fox :
And then, in fact, there’s quite a bit more !

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah.

Gerry Fox :
‘Cause what we realized was that some other things were opening up, so it wasn’t quite the end, but it felt like it, towards it. In fact, I think that it was after that I realized we were there, then I could ask a few, few questions.

The Agent Apsley :
Just moving that (Shifting the recorder), so that we can pick up Marc’s voice a bit better. (Further check on the end-time of the film) So, Marc, were you a sort of typical Oxbridge entrant [Quinn read History of Art, at Robinson College, University of Cambridge], pretty good all-rounder (Pause), um… ?

Marc Quinn :
I mean, I was interested in art. I came here, because (The Agent assents) I was at school (The Agent assents), did the entrance exams, and kinda got in…

The Agent Apsley :
Oh, you got in on the entrance ? – because you could still – I mean, it’s gone in and out of fashion with that. OK, um, so, the ‘A’ level results, then, were not relevant ? What ‘A’ levels did you take, though ?

Marc Quinn :
I can’t remember…

The Agent Apsley :
No. (Brief pause) But you’ve got this sort of science-y (Marc assents), you’ve got a facility with the machinery, the technology (Marc assents), yeah. (Long pause) Um (Slight pause), and then you end up with this route to where you are now through working with… Barry Flanagan ?

Marc Quinn :
Not really : I just said to Gerry earlier (The Agent assents), me working with Barry was… like the University of Drinking, rather than…

The Agent Apsley :
Was it really ?

Marc Quinn :
Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
So there was… ? You wouldn’t say that there was really anything from his artistic practice that… ?

Marc Quinn :
Not really, but then, I guess, it was an introduction to ‘the art world’ (The Agent assents), because I didn’t know the art world, I didn’t know living… artists existed.

The Agent Apsley :
Huh hum.

Marc Quinn :
You know, that you could actually become an artist…, earning a living…

The Agent Apsley :
So you weren’t seeking that… ?

Marc Quinn :
I was, but I, I didn’t know it – I didn’t know anything about it.

The Agent Apsley :
Sure. OK. (Brief pause) Um, so not even your, sort of – putting it in the context of – I mean, I don’t know what, how the History of Art course goes, whether you specialize in…

Marc Quinn :
Yeah. That was really interesting, obviously.

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah. So, but you could have seen through other people’s…, um, artistic careers, in other periods… ?

Marc Quinn :
Yeah, oh yeah, no, but what I’m saying is that I… wasn’t… in… the art world, at the time when I was here.

The Agent Apsley :
No, OK. (Brief pause) Yep. But, I mean, art was something that you practised… ?

Marc Quinn :
Yeah. I wanted to be an artist…

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah. (Brief pause) OK, so, it’s, it’s typically said about you that Self, the first one (the 1991… piece [A mould of Quinn’s head, filled with around eight pints of his blood, frozen]), is the one, rightly or wrongly, that first attracted attention, to you.

Marc Quinn :
Yeah, I think that that’s probably true.

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah. (Pause) And… it seems, as I’ve, sort of, touched on already, there, there seems to be a significant element of technical challenge in what you do ?

Marc Quinn :
There’s quite a lot of it, yeah – well, I’m using technology.

The Agent Apsley :
Do you know which comes first ? I mean, does the challenge come out of the nature of the work that you want to do ?

Marc Quinn :
(Quietly) I think so…

The Agent Apsley :
Or do you, sort of, seek it out – do you… ?

Marc Quinn :
No, I think that it’s, kind of, a mixture of the two – I’m not really sure…

The Agent Apsley :
Right, OK. And… with Self, with its, sort of, different iterations – um, I listened to the whole, um, interview with Tim Marlow, which was very interesting…

Marc Quinn :
Oh, yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
About, uh, the whole Charles Saatchi (Marc Quinn assents) and how that had blown up about [The story that the sculpture had somehow got unplugged and melted]…, but, I mean – as you (Long pause) worked on… a… new… version of Self… ?

Marc Quinn :
Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
Have there been things that have changed in your way of doing it ?

Marc Quinn :
Well, I think that the technology’s got better.

The Agent Apsley :
So, you… ?

Marc Quinn :
The actual freezers are… (The Agent assents) better, you know. The work is all of those pieces together.

The Agent Apsley :
OK. Um, so we’d better go into the Q&A…. (Discussion about when the film is due to end) Um (Longer pause), there’s a point, um – I was saying to Gerry that there’s this, this, this about the, sort of, moment when he (Pause) perhaps challenges a bit more, and asks some of the questions –

Marc Quinn :
(Quietly) I don’t think it’s a challenge, really – he just asks me questions, which I’m very happy to answer.

The Agent Apsley :
But more so than, I mean—

Gerry Fox :
More so than earlier !

The Agent Apsley :
One doesn’t know, know exactly what you’ve filmed—

Gerry Fox :
No, you’re right – where you’re filming…

The Agent Apsley :
Which is where I come back to this idea of, sort of, um, the idea of content… against the making – we never know what you don’t show us, because…

Gerry Fox :
Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
We may guess at it—

Gerry Fox :
That’s true…

Marc Quinn :
You work from what you see on the screen, ‘cause, as you say, you can’t know what’s…

The Agent Apsley :
(Definitely) No.

Marc Quinn :
What’s cut out – I can’t remember what was cut out.

Gerry Fox :
No. Loads of things – huge amounts.

Marc Quinn :
Once you have a finished film…

Gerry Fox :
Huge amounts, obviously, inevitably, you have to – but, basically, um, you know, as I said, I didn’t really want – I didn’t really want to be this kind of interviewer, a sort of a Yentob or a Bragg kind of person, asking him questions : it was supposed to be more of a film. But I just felt, towards the end, that there were some unanswered things that we wanted to draw out, and we didn’t want the audience left going ‘Well, why didn’t he answer that ?’.

The Agent Apsley :
But, I mean, actually, with that Tim Marlow interview… – it’s quite a long interview, and then you’ve got some, maybe more, maybe less, informed questions from the audience.

Marc Quinn :
Yes. (Brief pause) When was this… ?

The Agent Apsley :
Ooh, it was at the time that you made – it’s the time of the acquisition by the [National] Portrait Gallery…

Marc Quinn :
Oh, yeah. OK.

The Agent Apsley :
Um, so, I mean, there’s quite a lot of questioning there, but is that not something that you would normally… go in for… ?

Marc Quinn :
Uh ? What do you mean ?

The Agent Apsley :
Quite a lot of…

Marc Quinn :
Questions.

The Agent Apsley :
Questions on questions. (Marc Quinn assents)

Marc Quinn :
From who ?

The Agent Apsley :
Well, from…

Marc Quinn :
I don’t normally hang out, like at… – I mean, I’m happy to answer questions from people.

The Agent Apsley :
Well, I mean, one of the nice things about the film – and, again, we’ll never quite know, because that’s between Gerry and you and the camera – one of the nice aspects of the film is… hearing you talk about your work.

Marc Quinn :
Yeah – I think…

Gerry Fox :
In an informal way…

The Agent Apsley :
In an informal way.

Gerry Fox :
Which, I think, is more interesting than…

The Agent Apsley :
(Overlapping) And we start on the seashore…

Marc Quinn :
A head to head… Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
And we come back to the seashore…

Marc Quinn :
Exactly. Yeah – I was thinking that…

The Agent Apsley :
And then you, I mean – I came, I went down to White Cube and (Marc assents) saw… the show there, which was great…

Marc Quinn :
Great, yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
And that middle chamber, with that just one (Marc assents) huge [The shape of a shell, scaled up many times – to be at least eight to ten feet long]…

Courtesy of The White Cube, Bermondsey, from The Toxic Sublime

Marc Quinn :
Well, you saw me in the show, in the film, picking up the thing.

The Agent Apsley :
Yes.

Marc Quinn :
And it’s that big, and then it becomes that—

Gerry Fox :
Vast sculpture !

Marc Quinn :
Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
I mean, that must be pretty exciting ?

Marc Quinn :
Yes, it’s really exciting. (Pause) Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
And is it – that’s what keeps you, keeps you going with art ?

Marc Quinn :
Yes, to go from, just… walking along, picking up something, and thinking about it, and then having the ability… to, just, actually make it happen, it’s, kind of, quite [magical ?]…

The Agent Apsley :
Gerry’s just picked up, um, that film, which is Gerhard Richter : Painting—

Marc Quinn :
Did Gerry make it ?

Gerry Fox :
No, not the one I made.

The Agent Apsley :
Um, but what, what reminded me of that film (and I looked out a copy, (Marc Quinn assents) ‘cause, if you haven’t seen it, I’m happy to let you borrow it) (Marc assents) um, it’s an attempt to… catch him… at his work (Marc assents), and, yet, it interferes with the process, and he – he, I mean, he’s famous for his squeegee—

Gerry Fox :
Well, and he keeps messing them up – it’s awful !

The Agent Apsley :
Yes.

Gerry Fox :
He ruins them all !

The Agent Apsley :
Yes.

Gerry Fox :
It’s quite sad…

Marc Quinn :
But isn’t that, kind of, what he does generally ?

Gerry Fox :
No, some of them are amazing !

Marc Quinn :
What I mean is, isn’t that— ?

The Agent Apsley :
It’s an aspect, it’s an aspect of the film…

Marc Quinn :
You say that the film altered his process, self-cosnciousness… ?

The Agent Apsley :
At the time, he had to say ‘I’ve agreed to this, but I can’t do it’.

Marc Quinn :
Oh, right.

The Agent Apsley :
And we have a little hint of that (Marc assents) with you, when you were doing the, the Mandela finger-print…

Marc Quinn :
Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
You said, ‘I was so busy talking to you (Meaning Gerry, in the film) I’ve fucked it up’.

Gerry Fox :
That’s where you messed it up, yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
So just, just that thing reminded me of it… But – um…

Gerry Fox :
I’ll tell you, though, what the difference is between this one and the one on Marc is that, even though it’s, it’s a portrait of him during it, you do get a sense of all the different things that he’s doing.

The Agent Apsley :
Yes.

Gerry Fox :
This (Indicating the DVD) just focuses in – I’m sure Richter – only on one aspect of his work, which is the abstracts, which actually, to be honest, when I made the film with him, were the least interesting to explore…

The Agent Apsley :
Yes.

Gerry Fox :
But the photographic work was actually much more interesting (Marc assents), um, so – and what’s nice in that film with Marc is that I think that you did get a sense, even though it wasn’t about his work, you get a sense of the huge range of work that he does…

The Agent Apsley :
And, well, and yes, you do. And, from the Tate show that was, perhaps, the following year from when that was released, the… from the early work (Gerry assents) to that, sort of, quite famous image with the woman with her… head turned away.

Gerry Fox :
(Quietly) His daughter.

The Agent Apsley :
And… it’s so finely… done… – such…

Gerry Fox :
(Quietly) Well, that’s a photo-painting.

The Agent Apsley :
Yeah. (Slight pause) But, as you say, very different from the abstract work on which the film focused ?

Gerry Fox :
Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
But, I mean, one thing that it also shows him [Meaning Richter] doing – and I whether this is an aspect of how, how (Turning to Marc) you prepare for shows – is, actually, with his, uh, the help of his assistants, having a little, um, almost like a doll’s house of the gallery (Marc assents) … with the miniature…

Marc Quinn :
(Quietly) Um, yeah, I do that as well.

The Agent Apsley :
Thumbnails… You do that as well ?

Marc Quinn :
Yeah. (Pause) It, it always changes when you get in the gallery.

The Agent Apsley :
But, you – that’s your, sort of, rough… plan…

Marc Quinn :
Yeah.

The Agent Apsley :
For the… ? (Slight pause) Yeah. (Pause) OK, so – let’s see…

Gerry Fox :
Do you want to head off, or… ?

The Agent Apsley :
Let’s see : shall we go into the end of the film, and then, sort of, be ready to go down the front… ?

Gerry Fox :
You can always get more stuff through that (Indicating the recorder), and… after…

The Agent Apsley :
Well, that’s, that’s great – thanks very much !


End-notes

* This posting is now linked to another, which acts as a portal to other interviews that have been published by TAKE ONE (@TakeOneCinema), including the edited version of this one, which appeared on www.takeonecff.com.

** The link to the film's IMDb (@IMDb) page is here, and to its page on Marc Quinn's marcquinn.com web-site (where the materials referred to in the interview can be found) here.


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Unless stated otherwise, all films reviewed were screened at Festival Central (Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge)

Film reviews decoded : A Dictionary of Tweets

Film reviews decoded : A Dictionary of Tweets (#FilmReviewsDecoded)

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2015 (3 to 13 September)
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

29 December

Film reviews decoded : A Dictionary of Tweets (#FilmReviewsDecoded)

Develops badly

Develops badly : Uses the technical language of the dark-room, but, if true, *how* did the character develop badly ? #FilmReviewsDecoded
— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 12, 2014

Directorial debut

Coriolanus (2011) was what reviewers like, unable to resist alliteration and conformity, to call his 'directorial debut' = first film ?

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) December 30, 2015

Eponymous

The eponymous hero[ine] : Sounds grand, establishing the superiority of the reviewer - 'the title-character' doesn't. #FilmReviewsDecoded
— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 10, 2014

Evocative

Evocative : Could tell that the director / actors intended some mood or effect - too lazy or undiscerning to identify. #FilmReviewsDecoded
— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 10, 2014

Evocative delve

An evocative delve into a beast-ravaged land : One's guess is as good as another's whether this denotes something... ! #FilmReviewsDecoded
— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) October 16, 2014

Insightful

Insightful : Again, a non-specific usage - we gather that there is an insight, but not what into (the world of XYZ ?) #FilmReviewsDecoded
— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 11, 2014

Offbeat

Offbeat comedy : Not actually funny at all, but - as with The Emperor's New Clothes - people laugh 'to get the joke'. #FilmReviewsDecoded
— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 10, 2014

Musical term, misapplied to something where not being rhythmically exact / stressing the down beat has nowt to do with it, usually.

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) December 29, 2015

Powerful

Powerful : Unqualified, as in 'A powerful scene with Bob's father', we know that the scene works, but hardly why... #FilmReviewsDecoded
— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 10, 2014

Sororial

Sororial: She's someone's sister (thus sisterly) - pairs with 'fraternal', which is known, so can never be used. #FilmReviewsDecoded
— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 10, 2014

Teen movie

Vi är bäst ! (We are the Best !) (2013) concerns part of the so-called teenage years of its trio of Stockholm punks, but it's hard to say that it is, for that reason, 'a teen movie' - rather than a good film. pic.twitter.com/IaDhKcmuRI

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) March 22, 2018

Thriller

Tense thriller : Well, what thriller worth the name would not be... ? Is the reviewer tied to being persuasive here ? #FilmReviewsDecoded
— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 10, 2014

Total revelation

Someone's called ‘a total revelation’ (usu. a young actress) : Damn ! I've done no research on up and coming talent ! #FilmReviewsDecoded

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) December 18, 2015

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Unless stated otherwise, all films reviewed were screened at Festival Central (Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge)