There was never much of a mystery to this. Brancusi made it clear all along. And if you look at the draft versions and rough miniatures, it is quite obvious it is a study of vanity, the female self gaze, with the subject, Princess X looking down at her décolletage.
Brancusi explained its meaning (what a shame to have to). He wasn't living in the middle ages, if anything, if it had been a "bronzed phallus" instead of an indictment of narcissism, he'd have had no problem stating it, that would have probably gotten him more publicity and notice. Also, primitivizing was at the core of much of Brancusi's work.
The unintended irony is that the filmmaker's own gaze is like the juvenile who visits the exhibit. he then "explains" the context when in fact the paragraph in the Philly museum's own guide on the wall there explains it. So if you want to spend 10 minutes being lectured by someone who saw this sculpture with childish attraction for what it is not, and then "discovered" what it was, and then assumes his audience i also a bunch of 13 year olds -- this is for you
