by Elizabeth
Day
The Observer
[...]
Sophie Fiennes doesn't
like to make things easy for herself. The acclaimed documentary-maker's latest
project is a two-hour philosophical disquisition on the nature of ideology,
presented by the Slovenian psychoanalytic thinker, Slavoj Žižek.
[...]
"I like
to give myself a set of components or ingredients, like for cooking,"
Fiennes says when I ask her if she's got a screw loose. "So I don't quite
know how it's going to turn out."
A typical
scene from The
Pervert's Guide to Ideology, Fiennes's second collaboration with Žižek,
features the charismatic thinker expounding forcefully on the Lacanian notion
of "the big Other", with reference to popular movies ranging from The
Sound of Music to Full Metal Jacket. In a visually playful twist, Fiennes
shows Žižek speaking from replica sets, as though he is speaking from within
the films themselves – and, by extension, from within our own memories. The
result is like the most exhilarating university lecture you've ever seen.
"I
believe that people are all open to exploring the very edge of their
thinking," says Fiennes, 46, when we meet in the members' cafe at Tate
Modern, overlooking an impressive sweep of London skyline.
This is
Fiennes's seventh documentary, following on from award-winning works such as Over Your Cities, Grass Will Grow, a film project with the artist Anselm
Kiefer, and a biopic of the choreographer Michael Clark.
But in an
age when the box office relies on computer-generated cartoon characters for its
profits, is it a gamble to produce such unabashedly intellectual work?
"People
are bored with being talked down to," Fiennes replies.
Fiennes and
Žižek previously worked together on The Pervert's Guide to Cinema in 2006 (the pervert of the
title refers to the idea of perverting our preconceptions, rather than anything
more X-rated), which explored the philosopher's ideas on fantasy, sexuality and
subjectivity in film.
They have
since developed a close working relationship – Fiennes goes away and
"reads all the books", then asks Žižek to elaborate on the ideas she finds
most interesting while the camera is rolling. There is no script – sometimes
Žižek can speak for 17 minutes in full flow – which means the post-production
can be lengthy. Fiennes spent the best part of a year editing The
Pervert's Guide to Ideology.
Žižek, she
insists, has "an amazing sense of humour", at one point even agreeing
to be filmed while sitting on a lavatory.
Fiennes, who
is the sister of actors Ralph and Joseph, says her siblings are "very involved… it's great that
we all share the same interests". Her younger brother, Magnus, composed
the score for the film and the creative impulse appears to have been passed
down to Fiennes's three-year-old son, Horace, who has already developed a taste
for jazz.
Working with
Žižek has changed the way Fiennes watches films for pleasure but, she admits,
"at the moment, I'm just watching musicals with my son like High
Society and Oklahoma!."
[...]
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