The Crystal Gaze
In Ursula Mayer’s new filmic ballad three glamorous women langorously move and whisper to the soft piano music of Peggy Miller’s tragic-comic song Is That All There Is.
Who are this trio in shimmering bodysuit, satin gown and ethereal negligee?
They are strangers, yet companions. They need each others validating gaze, yet yearn for independence.
They talk of desire, fame, possession and abandon. They speak, but not to each other. Their answers do not match.
Just as in Sartre’s Huis Clos, they are brought together and pulled apart, but remain their own captors.
The Crystal Gaze
An eight minute film by Ursula Mayer, shot at Eltham Palace screening as part of the ICA’s Nought to Sixty, ICA, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH, 18th – 25th August. www.ica.org.uk/noughttosixty
