A Trip to the Orphanage

While an opera singers sings in a snowy and cold street, we are allowed to witness a meeting between a man and a woman through blowing net curtains. The music is touched by sadness and the emotions of the characters are no different. Nearer they become while the singer sinks deeper into the melancholy.

Even as a Guy Maddin fan, it is hard to really get into a film that appears to have been filmed while another one was made (Saddest music in the World). The short sees an opera singer sing while a man stumble towards a woman – that's it. Outside of this there is very little to justify watching it. That said, the music is hauntingly beautiful and makes for a nice listen if nothing else, meanwhile Maddin's style is always worth a look.

Overall this is pretty empty and pointless but it has some value in regards the beauty of the music and the unique style of Guy Maddin as director. Included on the Saddest Music DVD, this is probably the best way to see this short – with something else – because for the small amount of value it does have it is certainly not worth seeing on its own.

In my opinion, this short movie can be regarded as a beautiful link between "The Saddest Music in the World" and "Brand upon the brain!" The setting is - except for the curtains - the same as in one scene of "The Saddest Music": the winter night, the meeting between Narcissa and the sleep-walker who entitles her as "Mother". But why: the orphanage? In "The Saddest Music" there is no orphanage at all, but it will be the location in "Brand upon the Brain!" Many possibilities can be chosen: If "Brand upon the Brain!" is to be regarded as an autobiographical movie, then it has to be seen (in the light of "Trip to the orphanage" as a dream - or as a nightmare! - of autobiographical movie. Or: Could the sleep-walker be regarded as the "Guy Maddin"-character of "Brand upon the Brain!"? But: When the sleep-walker appears in this very scene of "The Saddest Music" you hear the voice of Narcissa's dead son. Summary: What a lovely short, opera-movie - and what a beautiful miracle!