The Hips of J.W. (Le bassin de J.W.)

Part of the BAMcinématek series Perverse Poet: João César Monteiro

Thu, May 6 at 4:15, 7:30pm

With Hugues Quester, Pierre Clémenti, Joana Azevedo

(1997) 148min

"A kind of cinephile transubstantiation orgy in which thought becomes flesh becomes celluloid." —Film Comment

Among Monteiro’s most controversial and contested films, The Hips of J.W. stands as the apotheosis of Monteiro’s rigorous aesthetic and interest in abstractly theatrical modes of cinematic narration. Inspired by a dream of Serge Daney of John Wayne striding across the North Pole, The Hips of J.W. stages a series of formally mesmerizing scenes of a theatre troupe performing and obsessively rehearsing Strindberg, with Monteiro himself as the lecherous company director bewitched by the sudden appearance of an impressive and prodigiously talented actor, played by an aging Pierre Clementi, who is gripped by a dream of the polar North.