A remake of Schnitzler’s “Reigen”
(La Ronde).
In “Reigen”, ten characters appear in pairs; in each
scene, one member of a pair is exchanged, meeting the next partner
in a sequence of rising societal rank, from the prostitute to the
count, and all are connected with each other through their affairs.
The themes of the play are power, sex, and morality; the scenes
show the couples before and after the sexual act; and these are
not love stories.
Trailer No1 from the film:
SILHOUETTES based on the true story by
Susanne Sachsse, Marc Siegel and friends.
Chapter 18: Jennifer and Susanne
Ten years ago, the actress
and later gay icon from Jena met the queen of “tea room”
sex and later stepfather of her children in Los Angeles and they
fell in love, beginning this Berlin rondo. All 20 characters are
tied together through their scholarly work, art production, and
sex in various overlapping constellations. In the shadow film, they
meet in pairs for short dialogs that touch upon many topics (that
were in the air on the day of the shoot); in chats and gossip, what
could be called the intimacy of friendship is formulated. Friendship
follows an economy of time that differs from that of the affair.
It develops only under long-term conditions; a friend is not immediately
there and is not immediately recognized; he needs elbow room. Friendship
is always in becoming and develops slowly. It is a promise, and
its presence is only a rehearsal, this evening as a shadow and love
play. The protagonists are recognizable only as silhouettes, a cheap
abstraction that nonetheless makes it possible to give voice to
feelings beyond the identificatory-psychologizing determination
of subjects.
Encountering each other in the one-hour
shadow film are:
the double-divorcée from Jena; the Professor for Theory,
Practice, and Mediation; the Pole; The Tea Room Queen from New York;
the underground filmmaker from Cologne; the autodidact from Oregon;
the reluctant pornographer; the mother of twins; the artist from
Paris; the New York Theorist of promiscuity; the friend; the fancy
lady from Düsseldorf; the retarded whore; the publisher from
Kreuzberg; the gossip theorist from the Free University Berlin;
the French diva; the female artist; the black-and-white filmmaker
from Winnipeg; the film curator on Potsdamer Platz; the dandy from
the precariat; the American dialectician of intimacy; the twin brother;
and… Salome passes by.
Guy Maddin and Bruce
La Bruce
Jennifer Doyle, Susanne
Sachsse, Hannah Hurtzig
Chapter
I
Susanne and Marc
How it all began. A special night in the bar “The Count of
Monte Cristo II (formerly known as the Daughter of Rosie O`Grady)”,
in which some of the later protagonists are present, although not
all of them encounter each other this evening
Chapter 2
Stefanie and Tim
In which various definitions of friendship are discussed and two
films enter into a friendship
Chapter 3
Adam and Daniel
The memory of that hot night in Cracow with CHEAP klub, which will
be mentioned again in Chapter 10
Chapter 4
Vaginal and Diedrich
Memories of Los Angeles from the viewpoint of two people without
driver’s license
Chapter 5
Christophe and Susanne
Advice: “My child, don’t sell yourself for just a dollar
or two”
Chapter 6
Bruce and Guy
Why one shouldn`t store celluloid in the fridge of a pyromaniac
and on other lost films
Chapter 7
Tan Binh and Vaginal
In which knowledgeable tips on make-up and cruising advice for dolls
and über-girls are given
Chapter 8
Daniel and Marc
How they decided to leave L.A. to live in Warsaw and Berlin and
why coincidence is a manifestation of necessity
Chapter 9
Zazie and Susanne
In which one girlfriend gives the other a gift that seems all the
more precious for being imperfect (and on concepts of friendship
in East Germany)
Chapter 10
Wilhelm and Marc
How we struggled back then and how we now continue. In the course
of the conversation, the following are mentioned: Jack Smith, Otto
Mühl, Herman Nitsch, Hanel Köck, Scheißkerl (Shithead),
and a trip with Marc’s grandmother to Cracow
Chapter 11
Guy and Stefanie
On friendship with buildings and on the cultural appropriation of
a mother’s summer home in Winnipeg
Chapter 12
Keren and Christopher
On the consumption of the romantic, cold intimacy and passionate
admiration
Chapter 13
Douglas and Jennifer
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1950 – 2009)
Chapter 14
Stephan and Nico
In which Luis says “Papa” for the first time
Chapter 15
Richard and Vaginal
On Christian superheroes and Christian guns and a suggestion for
fitting punishment for the older generation
Chapter 16
Marc and Vaginal
On Gossip in the Age of Technical Reproduction, presented in the
examples of a case (Berlin, 2004), and the classification of the
cultural scene in Margo Channings and Eve Harringtons
Chapter 17
Douglas and Marc
On people and things you don’t necessarily know but might
want to know or think it would be good to know for some reason or
another - gossip theory
Chapter 18
Susanne and Jennifer
Anonymous sex at the beach and in Georgia
