PETITE ANATOMIE DE L' IMAGE / POINT DE FRUITE / ADORATION / LA PHILOSOPHIE LE BOUDOIR / SEULS
PETITE ANATOMIE DE L' IMAGE: Smolders' most recent work actually starts where previous "Voyage Autour De Ma Chambre" ended. Once more anatomy is in the main frame of the smolderian universe which this time embodies depictions of wax dummies created by artists in Florence back in the 18th century. Filmed entirely in the Florence Museum Of National History the film costists of various chapters dedicated in philosophical and literal ideas. The Museum's exhibits are filmed and edited in such a way so they can be equivalent to each chapter's notional dimension.
POINT DE FRUITE :In the corner of a school room there's a pile of clothing. When teacher gets inside the students rise following the ritual but are all naked. Teacher pays no attention and starts talking about the laws of perspective. Students do not follow and ask her to get naked too. A brilliant farse inspired by Belgian surealist's Marcel Mariene novel, «Point De Fuite» introduces a different revolutionary approach towards teaching while at the same time its the absolute statement of pitch black Smolders humor.
ADORATION : A room constantly changing decoration. The camera acts as a guest of a man and a woman who discuss,dine and drink in front of it. The deafening silence breaks when the woman starts reading verses from a book. Her words are recorded but these will be her last as the circle of blood has just started. The young man takes her life and releases his cannibalistic mania on her carcass. Inspired by the true story of Japanese Issei Sagwawa who murdered Dutch Renée Hartevelt in 1981.
LA PHILOSOPHIE LE BOUDOIR : Excerpts from de Sade's "La Philosophie Dans Le Boudoir" are adapted within a film in totally different stories with the unholy writer's verbal perversion becoming alive on screen. The curse against the Holy, blasphemy and the call for total moral freedom may have been heard three hunderd yeas ago but still cause same tension. Young girls, middleaged men and women locked in various rooms reflect the Marquis' heroes in nowadays. Flesh delight, orgies, pleasure of a naked body and sexual contact as an end in itself are praised in the original text through simple words. Words that Smolders embodies on his heroes faces.
SEULS: A provocative and jagged documentary with rough takes of childern under detention in a Belgian mental clinic. Black and white pictures frame innocent childern faces seemingly suffering from an invisible enemy. The camera records their tranquil moments but mostly focuses their manic / depressing fits where desperate glances and similar to pedulum body movements shock even those aware of what they will see. "Seuls" is the absolute loneliness' chronicle of a group of children who communicate with the unknown through hollow sounds and self destructive smile awaiting for redemption.
