Pierrot film

If you haven’t yet seen Oliver Herrmann’s film, please WATCH IT NOW at the Pierrot Lunaire Centenary Carnival Tent, and enjoy some of the most beautifully bizarre modern music ever written (Arnold Schoenberg).

I only have one major complaint about the film… One of the shortest and most grotesque of the songs is “Galgenlied.” All of the poems are of equal length, but this one happens to be sung very quickly. The subject is Pierrot’s last lover– a haggard whore who approaches him as he stands on the gallows.

There are so many things you could do visually with that song, but Herrmann takes the easy way out and just has Christine Schaefer stand motionless and lip-synch it very fast without doing anything at all. It may only run for 25 seconds, but there’s a lot that can be done in 25 seconds of film. [ADDENDUM: Just checked. It’s only 20 seconds. But still, you shouldn’t just have her stand motionless for 20 precious seconds. Show images of Christine using pigtails to strangle a clown, or something like that. If they’d just paid me 100 Euros as a consultant, I’d have come up with an unforgettable scene. Heck, I’d have paid them for the honor.]