Eaux d'artifice (1953)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Unfortunately this Kenneth Anger film runs 10 minutes more than that. Actually, the flow of the water is nice to watch, the colors are pretty great and the classical music is good to listen to, but it's simply not enough material for such a runtime. I would like to say that this not turning out so well may have been because of Anger's inexperienced being only in his mid20s when he made this, but this was already his 10th movie and he had been active for over 10 years at that point already as a filmmaker, so I cannot be more generous with the rating here. Overall, I have to say this was a disappointment. Most of his films are pretty much style over substance to this date. He is almost 90 right now and still making movies. Oh yeah, don't be fooled by the French title, there is no spoken language in here, so you can watch this if you don't speak the language. But why would you want to? "Eaux d'artifice", I cannot recommend.

Many years ago, I took a college film/literature/art class co-taught by a marvelous English professor/filmmaker and an art professor who was also a gifted modern artist. The entire experience proved enlightening and just plain delightful, despite a handful of redneck ignoramuses. One of the most captivating, intriguing films we viewed during that class was Eaux d'artifice. I adore water gardens, such as the ones I had already toured at Longwood and Chatsworth. Long a student of history, I felt fascinated watching this rather small woman in 18th century garb waft about the sumptuous foliage and water arrangements amid the splendor of Tivoli and the d'Este estate. Vivaldi's Winter provided the perfect soundtrack. Thirty years on, I recollect this incredible film with the greatest pleasure. The photography remains breathtaking, even filtered through my memory banks. We also viewed Anger's Magick Lantern Cycle, which simply confirmed my estimation of Anger's genius. His use of imagination in exploring history and eroticism through the framework of the arts also stimulated my own imagination. This film, as well as Anger's other work, certainly bear exploration. Sit back and let the beauty of Tivoli and the mystery of its diminutive guest waft over you.

A stunning water garden is the empyrean setting for this short film, one of the director's strongest works. The ceaseless motion of liquid in an elaborate fountain-system is given close study in high-contrast black and white...jets, streams and droplets dance madly to classical music as the water becomes seemingly enlivened with a zoetic personality. The mood shifts with the music's dramatic rise-and-fall, being somber and wintry one moment, majestic and powerful the next. Intermittently, a shadowy figure in period costume moves hurriedly through the scenery, adding even further mystique to the proceedings. Mesmerizing in its organic beauty...a small masterwork. 9/10

Somewhat atypical of Anger's films, this seems to be a pure visual treat with none of his trademark homoeroticism or occult references. To a soundtrack of "The Four Seasons", a woman wearing eighteenth century clothes wanders through a garden carrying a fan, until she comes across a fountain. She enters the waters, and fades to nothingness. Anger's camerawork is nothing less than sensational, catching the play of light on the water superbly. This short film was shot in b&w, and printed with a coloured tint, with the fan hand-tinted in a separate colour. Simple, and beautifully effective.