The Case of Marcel Duchamp

Utterly engrossing and original analysis of Duchamp via Baker Street. This lovely little film is the best of the Holmes pastiches by a mile and deserves to be better known (as the above reviewer states). It works somewhat like Raul Ruiz's film 'Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting' and wends its way through the suspect's life as if art were a crime. It should be. The main focus is on Duchamp's labyrinthine project "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even", covering all the evidence: incriminating notes, procedural and alibi, duplicitous versions, false implications. Nothing is given as concrete, and there may be other motives: alchemy, reflections of the war, perhaps even that old standby, money. But the main culprit is laughter.

This is a populist film, probably loathesome to academics because its giddy and provocative analyses strips them of their validity (Very Duchamp!). Rolfe and Francis are brilliant as Holmes and Watson. The bark of the dog has never had a more mysterious, playful, and sometimes even unsettling, echo. Fans of Doyle and Surrealism will really get a kick out of this, and anyone who wants to know more about Duchamp beyond his famous "Fountain" will be more than amply rewarded.