Part of what I love about Docteur Chance is how, whenever I look at parts of it, I find the whole feel of a particular shot or scene (to say nothing of the entirety of the plot) feels at once alien and familiar--like a film you've seen but long forgotten, or a film you've never seen but have started watching in a channel surfing daze: at the moment of realization that the film is generic, that you know what has happened (will happen) because you have seen something like it before. Docteur Chance captures the weird incongruities and beauties of the viewing experience in so many its glories (it's a cinephilic film, beginning with Sunrise), ruminates on them, lets its amour fou detonate into a hundred reflective shards. Déjà vu is important here: remember that the first and last scenes circle into one another.
3 comments:
Zach, these images are tantalizing.
Not sure if I mentioned this to you but I picked up a used VHS copy recently. I will now retire to watch it...
"No time left for seduction..."
For me, more and more, Sombre, New Rose Hotel and Docteur Chance, together represent the most important narrative films of the 90s. Poetry, wandering bodies, survival.
(By the way, it's been good to see you blogging again.)
I've never even heard of this film but it is jumping right to the top of my netflix queue! Thanks for the images.
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