Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueA double leg amputated woman sits and writes a long meandering letter while her ineffective nurse attempts to attend to her stumps.A double leg amputated woman sits and writes a long meandering letter while her ineffective nurse attempts to attend to her stumps.A double leg amputated woman sits and writes a long meandering letter while her ineffective nurse attempts to attend to her stumps.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Amputee
- (as Catherine Coulson)
Avis à la une
*** (out of 4)
Amputee, The (1974) Version 2
** 1/2 (out of 4)
David Lynch's fourth film has a woman (Catherine E. Coulson) with no legs writing a letter to a lover while a nurse (Lynch) does weird things to her stumps. It should come as no shock but here's another very strange film from the director. It's weird because while your ears are listening to what the woman has to say, your eyes never leave her stumps where all sorts of weird things are going on. I'm sure this short will offend many people and it's this offensiveness that makes the film so effective. The goo coming from her stump has to be seen. The second version runs a minute shorter and doesn't appear to have as much being done to her stumps.
The film was made for the sole purpose of helping the American Film Institute decide between two stocks of black and white film. David Lynch, soon to emerge as one of the greatest directors ever proposed to shoot a short film twice. One can imagine David Lynch getting excited on the thought of the imagery he was to put to film "An amputated woman in an extremely deteriorated state lost in the days of her romantic endeavors!"
I understand that only a handful of people would appreciate the concept, leaving the majority confused and disgusted but The Amputee is a simple masterpiece open to interpretation
In truth it isn't very interesting. It's shot in one take with ugly composition. The quality of the videotape is poor in both versions; while the content is a combination of the repulsive with the mundane. It was written and filmed over the course of one day, and it is throwaway stuff that is of limited interest. It's more an example of the director's bizarre humour than anything else. It stars Catherine Coulson who would go on to play the part of The Log Lady in Twin Peaks.
A nurse, played by Lynch himself, comes and unwraps one of the stumps left by her amputation, and snips at sutures of the wound on the end. Fluid starts to come out, he attempts to stem the flow, fails, and runs out, while the woman's ponderous voice-over continues, though we've long since stopped paying attention.
"The Amputee" was allegedly made by Lynch to help a guy he knows test film stock for the American Film Institute. I'm not sure what the outcome of the test was, but having just watched the test itself, I can't imagine they were too happy with the stock. The movie looks like it was shot for a CD-ROM game made in 1993. It's black and white, heavily letterboxed with black bars on all sides, and is extremely grainy.
I'm not really sure what to make of it. I'm surprised it turned up on the "Short Films of David Lynch" DVD, because it feels like kind of a joke between him, his star Catherine Coulson (who sounds exactly like Frances Conroy on the voiceover), and maybe the guy he made it for.
At least it's pretty short, and it's not boring. There's a dark sense of humour at work here as well.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesThis short came about because the American Film Institute was testing two different kinds of black and white video, and they hired cinematographer Frederick Elmes to shoot the test footage. David Lynch convinced Elmes to shoot a short film for the test and stayed up all night writing the script. As a result, the short exists in two different versions, being shot once on each of the types of video being tested.
- Citations
Woman with amputation to the legs: This isn't what I am telling you. You weren't in the room when Jim said that. And I was. And he really did. He told me that everything was fine between Helen and him. And I knew that even if he didn't say it, that it was true. He knew it then. No one else did. You maybe thought you did but I knew you didn't. And it makes me furious when you tell me I didn't know about Helen. She was my best friend. She even told me about that time she drank gin with you. So maybe now you'll believe me. After that I got sick of the beach. Harry turned on all of the burners on the stove before we left the cabin. He said he wanted to set fire to the whole row. Made me sick. Everything was bad between us. And that was it for me. I never said one word to him on the way back. When he stopped and we saw Joann at Jim's, he bought some cigarettes and told Joann that I was a flirt, a dumb flirt. I never was a flirt. I was not flirting with Jim. I didn't flirt then and I don't flirt now. And you started this that night Jim told me. You have never understood Jim. After the way you treated Helen it isn't a wonder that he feels the way he does. And you know it. And you know that even Paul isn't the same. You have never understood Jim. You had it all wrong, honey. You and Joann. Now you know what Paul is really talking about. By the way, where were you when Paul got home at three in the morning?
- ConnexionsEdited into The Short Films of David Lynch (2002)
Meilleurs choix
Détails
- Durée9 minutes
- Couleur
- Mixage
- Rapport de forme
- 1.37 : 1
Contribuer à cette page
