Odilon Redon or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity

After the successful art-house release of Guy Maddin's feature film Careful in 1992, and the made-for-tv half-hour The Hands of Ida, Guy was commissioned by the BBC in 1994 (along with a select few filmmakers around the world) to choose a favourite work of art and make a short film about it.

Guy chose "The Eye Like A Strange Balloon Mounts Towards Infinity (After Edgar A Poe, 1882)" by Odilon Redon, the great French symbolist painter. Eye Like A Strange Balloon taken from a period of Redon's life where he used charcoal almost exclusively up until the 1890's (when Redon started using pastels and colours in his work), contributes much of the inspirational source for this brilliant short film.

This film does remind one of a dark charcoal painting come to life. The film was shot in black and white on a 16mm Bolex, edited on a Steenbeck, with minimalist music added by Roger White and an excellent sound design by Clive Perry.

For those interested in short films and surreal art, The Eye Like A Strange Balloon is a great introduction.

No, this short film does not exactly "make sense". Yes, it is quite possible that this short is "pretentious" (whatever that even means anymore). However, this film is about more than plot or even structure- instead, it's more about creating a unique and imaginative world surrounded by surreal images and crushing dreams of dreariness and beauty. It's about cracking open the mind of Guy Maddin and taking a risky, five minute long dive, exploring its various crevices of bizarre goodness. It's not for everybody...but those that can appreciate it are likely to have struck gold with such a colossally original, exciting, and weird work of art.

A father and a son work the railway together and are happy until a day that they witness a crash. They rescue the sole survivor – a beautiful woman called Berenice who they welcome into their small family. However with time the father and the son both fall for Berenice and the competition for her threatens to rip them apart – but will she bring them the happiness they desire?

I saw this short film at a film night recently dedicated to showing several of Maddin's short films and his recent 'Cowards Bend at the Knee'. Despite the event being a little amateurish in its organisation, with a late start and 20 minutes spent watching a band tidy up in front of the screen, I enjoyed the evening and was glad for the chance to see several of the films for the first time. This film was one of the ones that I had seen for the first time and, like many of Maddin's films I struggle to get into it in the short period that it ran for. This I consider to be a problem with his shorts – sometimes, unless you are really aware of his influences then you'll struggle to get the substance of the short (kind of like watching Shrek without any knowledge of popular culture – you just wouldn't know what it was trying to do). However, the visuals are always impressive and even someone with only a passing knowledge of the silent movie period should be able to enjoy the sheer imagination and flair that Maddin directs with.

The substance here is weird – very weird and in this regard it matches the visuals, which are also very strange, a bit unnerving and occasionally quite funny. Supposedly inspired by Redon's sketch, the plot is less important than the style and imagination. Bearing this in mind I liked the film for what it was but I suggest that only Maddin fans and those coming to him for the very first time will fall down and worship this film. I enjoyed it but contest that his best work is where he develops a firmer structure and clearer narrative to place his imagination within (Dracula & Cowards Bend at the Knee being two very good examples of this).

Overall, the casual viewer (such as myself) may find the substance lacking due to its reliance on us to know Maddin's influences etc but the style, pace and imagination in this short make it well worth watching just to experience it if nothing else.

The Evan Richards shown on this page is not the actor who played Lil' Caelum. The character was played by my son Evan Richards. Yes, he has the same name but if we need to show a difference, please list my son as Evan Tyler Richards, Actor. I also should be credited in casting since I helped Guy Maddin cast his two lead actors Brandy Bayes and my son Evan. Thank you. I spoke to Guy about this years ago but the error still exists. For Guy, the film is astonishing! Brilliant! I loved it for one of your early works.