Programme 5

Many of the films by Frans van de Staak revolve around situations or dialogues involving two actors. His cinema proposes a catalogue of ways to film the difference and communication between two people.

In Dichtweefsel, an actress is rehearsing the play entitled Three Travellers Watch a Sunrise, by Wallace Stevens, playing all the characters (three Chinese travellers and a girl from Pennsylvania). Another actor, or perhaps a director, is listening and giving the actress instructions.

Ongedaan gedaan follows two couples: four characters, each one of whom seduces a member of the other couple. The film is a series of visits punctuated by the solitary journeys from one house to another: comical scenes, fights, love scenes and a lot of fast-paced walking. Each character is played by two different actors, which creates difficulty in reading the narrative of the film and invites the audience to read it as a collection of vignettes.