Puce Moment (1949)

A soundtrack plays folk rock as a woman prepares, at noon, to take her Borzois for a walk. She goes through her dresses, all 1920s style flapper gowns, holding them one at a time, shaking ... See full summary »

Director:

Kenneth Anger (as Anger)

Star:

Yvonne Marquis

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Yvonne Marquis	...	Hollywood Star (uncredited)

Storyline

A soundtrack plays folk rock as a woman prepares, at noon, to take her Borzois for a walk. She goes through her dresses, all 1920s style flapper gowns, holding them one at a time, shaking them as if they are dancing. She picks one - in puce. She puts it on, delighted, adds perfume, languishes on a chaise for a few minutes, then goes for her walk. It all has a 20s feel.

---

Plot Keywords:

borzoi | star | star system | myth | hollywood | 

---

Genres:

Short

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 April 1973 (France)

Also Known As:

Проверка на женственность

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

6 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is so short because that's all Kenneth Anger could afford at the time.

---

Alternate Versions

In 1970, a musical score was added to the silent 16mm film.

---

Connections

Featured in Magick Lantern Cycle (2009)

---

Soundtracks

Leaving My Old Life Behind/I Am A Hermit
(uncredited)
Written and Performed by Jonathan Halper

User Reviews

"Ectasy's my game"

I don't know if there is too much to this short by Kenneth Anger, but I also don't know if Anger wants us to think there's anything deeper past the facade he presents: a bunch of dresses are shown one by one, floating like ghosts, and then the woman is trying the dresses on, puts on her pointed fashionable shoes, and then is taken along while lying back on a couch through light and dark until she's on a roof.

I wish I knew what the word 'Puce' meant before watching the film (looking it up in French it means 'flea', so is it related to fleas somehow, or a flea circus, I don't know). It doesn't seem to have much to relate to this - maybe because dogs appear near the end who are leading along the woman - but that's fine, I suppose.

I didn't watch this first among the Anger films in his collection, and I think Scorpio Rising, Rabbit's Moon and even the hallucinogenic Lucifer Rising offer more meat on the experimental bones than this. It's also hard to judge it as its own thing as Anger went back to re-dub the original version he shot and he put Jonathan Harper folk songs over it, which... was the wisest decision he made as it turns this into something that is out of time, as it's clothes from the silent film era (via his grandmother who was a designer), an actress and setting and film stock that's late 1940's (in color! and not bad stock at that), and music from the 60's.

This ends up being a keen music video, and of course it shows how vital Anger was with putting images to music. But apart from that it's not something that yells "watch this over and over" (unless, of course, you love the songs beyond measure or the clothes or whatnot). Maybe if Anger had had the money to do what he wanted it'd be something more than these fragments stitched together.