Le Déshabillage impossible

Going To Bed Under Difficulties (1900)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

aka Le Deshabillage impossible

This film here is pretty much just one gag but what an incredibly looking gag it is. A man gets home and can't wait to go to bed but first he must get undressed but each time he gets a new piece of clothing off a new one comes back on him. We've seen this type of joke from Melies before in the terms of someone trying to get undressed but can't but the joke here is expanded and is done at such a high rate of speed you can't help but just sit there and be amazed at what you're watching. I'm still not quite sure how Melies managed to do all of these magic tricks and the stuff on display here is among the best work of his career.

The definition of a quick-witted in editing movie. All you get here is a man who is taking off his clothes... and then one of those edits happens where it appears that a new hat is there, so he takes that off, and then there's another edit where he has a jacket, and he takes that off, but then there's more pants and that's off and shoes and so on and so on. It's cinematic expression as a time-loop, with George Melies delivering an intricate series of edits.

The most clever part of all of this is how it doesn't really appear to be edits - that is to say, nothing is really too jerky that it took me out of the film. It's all rather seamless, which is a credit to his direction but also the actor playing the man. It's special effects really, though it's all with splicing together one image to another and then another and another. Today it would be done with computers of course, but what's maybe most remarkable is the thought that he planned this out so carefully.

This is not the only film like this that Georges Méliès made. Using the same exact techniques, he did the same. What the film consists of is a guy TRYING to take off his clothes, but every time he takes off a set of clothing, a new one, as if by magic, appeared on him! As the film progresses and this has happened MANY times, he becomes progressively more aggrevated. And, when he tries to go to bed..well you can probably guess what happens!

This is a cute little film and pretty good stuff considering it was made in 1900. Of course, to achieve the effect, the camera would be turned off...the man would take off or add a new set of clothes...then the camera would be restarted. But the relatively seamless fashion and sheer number of changes make this one a winner. Quite clever.

The quick change animation is quite incredible. Once again we visit the man who wants to go to bed but he can't get undressed. This time, each item of clothing is hung up or put aside, but new clothes continue to cover his body. By the time the film ends, he has an entire wardrobe hanging on hooks. But the star is the guy who never gives up. He continues to remove clothing at a frantic pace, never giving up. Excellent work by the master.

I'm not some uncivilized brute, but after the third or forth failed attempt to get naked, I'd just go to sleep clothes on. And if the bed starts acting up (knowing Méliès, that's a certainty), you can use the discarded trousers, shirts and jackets to make a rudimentary bed. I'm sure that too would disappear at some point, but you have to at least try it, right? Really lovable and entertaining short film, by the way.