Revered footage from cinema’s illustrious history is given a sly reworking in We Should All Be Futurists.
Angela Norelli’s found footage film, which screens as part of the Settimana Internazionale della Critica at Venice, is a work of montage that creates a fictional story from a selection of monochrome film clippings. Taking pieces from cinema’s earliest years, Norelli crafts a narrative adjacent to the predictions of early 20th-century Futurists, particularly Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, about the extension of man by machines. In this instance, such ideas take on a deliciously emancipatory feminist edge as a woman discovers the sexual possibilities of the concept.
The plot of We Should All Be Futurists is presented as epistolary, opening with the receipt of a letter by Giorgina from her friend, Rosa. It recounts Rosa’s husband, Umberto, accusing her of being hysterical and consulting a physician to see if she could be cured. Little did Umberto know that what the doctor ordered was a regular dose of sexual gratification – all while he continued paying a handsome price for the treatment. When Giorgina’s reply explains that she is, herself, carnally frustrated since her own husband began a dalliance with Futurism, Rosa retorts that replacing a man with a machine might be exactly what can cure Giorgina’s ills.
Norelli’s repurposing of the archive to visually accompany the voiceover accounts is brilliantly executed. The images themselves come from a wealth of films of the silent era, from work by all manner of filmmakers. These include Ernst Lubitsch, Dziga Vertov, Alice Guy-Blache, Man Ray, and Rene Claire, amongst others. Such sequences are combined with other moving image material from the likes of British Pathe, the Danish Film Institute, and the Library of Congress. Norelli is inventive in the methods she utilises to convey her story – not least in the historical paper clippings that suddenly appear on screen to advertise the therapeutic vibrators that “every woman needs.” The clips are cherry-picked to perfection throughout, amusingly emphasising the gender relationships that are being subverted in this entertaining tale.
Director, screenplay, editing: Angela Norelli
Cast: Caterina Cianfa, Zoe Tavarelli, Sofia Russotto
Sound: Alberto Moscone, Aman Falconi, Giulio Sereno
Production: Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Italy)
Venue: Venice Film Festival (Settimana Internazionale della Critica)
In English
11 minutes
