Cremaster 5

Colour, 35 mm
USA, 1997, 54 min
Section: Celluloid Dreams Presents Matthew Barney

Synopsis

Each of the episodes in the cycle takes place further to the east than the one before it: ultimately we go from the American state of Idaho to Budapest. Barney takes advantage of romantic structures from the close of the 19th century: opera halls, Art Nouveau spas, and the Lanchid Bridge over the Danube. The film is cast in the shape of a lyrical opera, and is embellished by the presence of Ursula Andress in the role of the Queen, the Swedish star famous for her part in the first Bond movie, Dr. No. Barney portrays the other three central entities: the opera Diva, the Magician, and the Giant. As the Magician rides into town on horseback, the Queen and her attendants climb the steps of the Hungarian State Opera House. She sits down on a throne, surrounded by pigeons. From her throne, the Queen can see into the thermal baths, where the symbolic finale of the pentalogy is being played out. The internal development (which, as we know, is the main motif of the cycle) matures from its initial equilibrium to total descension: the Giant arrives and sprites affix ribbons attached to a flock of birds to his scrotum. The cremaster muscle relaxes in the warm waters of the spa and the testicles descend. Other lines through the story also reflect the motive of descent: the Diva tumbles onto the stage of the opera from above, the Magician plunges to the bottom of the river onto a bed of flowers. The Queen prepares to follow him into death with an aria on her lips. Rings in the water suggest the eternal echoes that will linger after the departed. The Cremaster cycle however defers any definitive conclusion.