Catherine Binet Homage

The film universe of Catherine Binet (1944-2006) is full of magical locations, puzzling and enigmatic figures and seems like a surreal dollhouse full of neglected or concealed memories of childhood and dreams. Binet, who was only able to make a handful of films, had been almost forgotten in France until 2013 when the actress and writer Marina Vlady brought her back with the book “C’était Catherine Binet”.

Marina Vlady will be at Arsenal for both days and will speak about the life and work of her close friend Catherine Binet. On January 12, Marina Vlady will read selected chapters from her book in French language before the screening. The German translation will be read by the actress Franziska Junge.

LES JEUX DE LA COMTESSE DOLINGEN DE GRATZ (The Games of Countess Dolingen, F 1981, 12.1.) Binet’s first independent feature film is exceptional in French film history. With its uncanny atmosphere, this visually exquisite study of female erotic fantasy was largely inspired by the short story “Dunkler Frühling” (Dark Spring) by the German poet Unica Zürn, whom Binet very much admired. In three stories woven together in various ways, she tells of the crime of one man (Michael Lonsdale), the unfulfilled love of a young girl and the fate of a neglected wife (Carol Kane). The writer Georges Perec, Binet’s partner of the time, produced the film.

LE PRINTEMPS (Spring, Marcel Hanoun, Catherine Binet, F 1971, 13.1.), which she co-directed, wrote and edited with Marcel Hanoun, who was very much admired by Jonas Mekas and others, and in which she also appeared in brief scenes, was made 10 years earlier. It combines scenes from the childhood of a girl with a man’s desperate attempt to flee. HANS BELLMER (F 1973), a fascinating study of the art of the German surrealists, who also had an impact on Binet’s work and  TROMPE L’ŒIL (F 1982), in which Georges Perec provides a commentary on illusionist murals will be screened in the same program. (gv)