2004
wideo found footage
czas: 10’47”
Deszcz w Paryżu (Rain in Paris), a video by Bogna Burska, consists of fragments of cult romantic and erotic movies set in Paris: Queen Margot, Marquise, Dangerous Liaisons, Frantic, Henry and June, Quills, Point Neuf, Le vent de la nuit. This combination is dominated by the divas of French cinematography and symbols of beauty – Isabell Adjani, Sophie Marceau, Catherine Deneavue. Who wouldn’t like to be these women or with these women?
The artist chose fragments showing violent confrontation between a man and a woman when blood appears. The intertwining fragments of various films are centered on the character of the women who experience a peculiar state of sensual madness, devotion or despair. Rain in Paris gives a remarkable, subversive insight into the aesthetical myth of French existential eroticism. Allegedly only the French are able to talk, write, show and think sexuality and the best scenery to do that is Paris.
A certain element of poetry and existentiality visible in the work makes us unable to resist its aesthetics, especially bearing in mind Polish perception of culture which is devoid of deep and emancipated eroticism. The artist surrenders to this painful beauty and shares it with the viewers. The horror of blood and drama disappears in this romantic study of neurotic heterosexual love where only beauty remains. We can sense the spirit of The Last Tango in Paris by Bernardo Bertolucci, even if it’s absent among Bogna Burska’s found footage of quotations.
excerpt from the text Reflections on Beauty by Paweł Leszkowicz, catalogue Bogna Burska. Rainfall, published by Bytom Cultural Centre, 2006
sources:
La Reine Margot dir. Patrice Chéreau
Sade dir. Benoît Jacquot
Le pacte du silence dir. Graham Guit
Dangerous Liaisons dir. Stephen Frears
Le vent de la nuit dir. Philippe Garrel
Marquise dir. Vera Belmont
Quills dir. Philip Kaufman
Henry and June dir. Philip Kaufman
Irréversible dir. Gaspar Noé
Les amants du Pont-Neuf dir. Leos Carax
Bitter Moon dir. Roman Polański
Frantic dir. Roman Polański
La Fidélité dir. Andrzej Żuławski
Metro dir. Luc Besson
