Chelsea Girls (1966)

Lacking a formal narrative, Warhol's art house classic follows various residents of the Chelsea Hotel in 1966 New York City, presented in a split screen with a single audio track in conjunction with one side of screen.

Directors:

Paul Morrissey, Andy Warhol

Writers:

Ronald Tavel, Andy Warhol

Stars:

Brigid Berlin, Randy Borscheidt, Christian Päffgen

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brigid Berlin	...	Herself - The Duchess (as Brigid Polk)
Randy Borscheidt	...	Himself
Christian Päffgen	...	Himself (as Ari)
Angelina 'Pepper' Davis	...	Herself
Dorothy Dean	...	Herself
Eric Emerson	...	Himself
Patrick Flemming	...	Himself
Ed Hood	...	Himself
Arthur Loeb	...	Himself
Donald Lyons	...	Himself
Gerard Malanga	...	Son
Marie Menken	...	Mother
Mario Montez	...	Transvestite
Nico	...	Herself
Ondine	...	Himself - Pope

Storyline

Lacking a formal narrative, Warhol's art house classic follows various residents of the Chelsea Hotel in 1966 New York City, presented in a split screen with a single audio track in conjunction with one side of screen.

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Plot Keywords:

multi screen | new york city | chelsea hotel | reality | experimental film | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Portuguese

Release Date:

November 1968 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Chelsea-lányok

Filming Locations:

Chelsea Hotel - 222 West 23rd Street, Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

210 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Made history by becoming the first "underground" film to be shown in a mainstream cinema. In a limited run at New York's Cinema Rendezvous from December 1st 1966.

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Quotes

Ingrid Superstar: Who wants to be an angel?

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Connections

Featured in Brows Held High: Vinyl (2012)

User Reviews

It's a intolerable to watch! It's experimental avant garde!--It's both!

You know when you let your mind drift--especially when under the influence of drugs or alcohol--and you think up some idea that sounds like it would be great? A typical non-genius would consider an idea like that later and think, "well, this sounded like a good idea then but it's just stupid now?" Thankfully, Warhol said to himself, "no, I'm a genius and therefore that was a good idea."

And what was this brilliant idea?

Film a bunch of drug users and couples in various rooms of a hotel then project two films at a time side-by-side, shifting the audio to switch focus.

Doesn't that sound amazingly fresh and cool?

Don't answer yet! You also get:

• randomly twitchy camera work

• quasi-purposeful film speed changes

• having the camera's point-of-interest fail to follow the viewer's

desires

• racking the zoom

• sluggish response to bad focus after changing camera

positions

• over- and under-exposure

Now how much would you pay?

With your average film you'd get three or four reels, but with this, you get _12 reels!_ Plus, you get sketchy instructions on when to do transitions and change projectors, putting _you in the driver seat!_

Operators are standing by.