Most of those who watch this film are going to very disturbed by the amount of nudity, both adult and adolescents, but it is never done in an exploitative nature. It more a sobering look at death and how lives become cold figures on a document at some point of our lives. Here two undertakers catalogue the belongings of each victim found in the famous river Seine and try to deduce from other scant evidence if they were victims of foul play or was it an accident. This one Peter Greenaway's more accessible films. At 43 minutes it never gets too repetitive. There is a tragic quality as each is stripped down to their most essential features. Towards the end the narrator remarks how quickly an individual is forgetten. It is a very sobering thought that no matter what we were in life it will be gone inside of a single generation.
3 Reviews
Etudes on Corpses
tedg24 July 2000
The remarkable Greenaway is most successful when his scope is constrained and most intriguing when he works in the large. This is a small work, and lovely.
A number of drowning victims are described from the coroner's notes and exquisitely photographed. If viewing nude corpses bothers you, this might not be your thing. But remembrances of these people are frangible, just as we will be remembered or not.
The period is right after the French Revolution where a new calendar was briefly used. As the calendar became obsolete, the time of their endlives and deaths can be said to not exist. This allowed Greenaway to bring their past lives back into `real' history.
The views of their bodies are so evocative that perhaps we give them a richer existence than they ever knew themselves.
As this is a video production, Greenaway can afford complex visual overlayering. Also, as this is contemporaneous with `Drowning by Numbers' one wonders about the linkages. Enriches both films.
A number of drowning victims are described from the coroner's notes and exquisitely photographed. If viewing nude corpses bothers you, this might not be your thing. But remembrances of these people are frangible, just as we will be remembered or not.
The period is right after the French Revolution where a new calendar was briefly used. As the calendar became obsolete, the time of their endlives and deaths can be said to not exist. This allowed Greenaway to bring their past lives back into `real' history.
The views of their bodies are so evocative that perhaps we give them a richer existence than they ever knew themselves.
As this is a video production, Greenaway can afford complex visual overlayering. Also, as this is contemporaneous with `Drowning by Numbers' one wonders about the linkages. Enriches both films.
incredible visual layering
crash_into_me42017 December 2005
how sad that this little masterwork appears to have not even gained distribution. Because of this, I unfortunately had to seek it out online as it seemed quite interesting... I've not seen a short project so worthy of easier availability.
What incredible layering of imagery! ... visuals blending and merging into and out of one another totally seamlessly. I will not even attempt to surmise the amount of time that must've been put into this editing. A comment should be made toward the lighting as well. Very nicely done.
one minor criticism might be that while I do acknowledge Greenaway's explanation for the body's explicit movements I still think it would've been better for them to have convincingly emulated dead bodies.
10/10 nonetheless
What incredible layering of imagery! ... visuals blending and merging into and out of one another totally seamlessly. I will not even attempt to surmise the amount of time that must've been put into this editing. A comment should be made toward the lighting as well. Very nicely done.
one minor criticism might be that while I do acknowledge Greenaway's explanation for the body's explicit movements I still think it would've been better for them to have convincingly emulated dead bodies.
10/10 nonetheless
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