Ursula Mayer + Goldfinger

INTERIORS
2006
3,10 min
super 16 mm transfer on DVD
color and black and white
Copyright © Ursula Mayer

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARCHITECTURE AND ITS SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS IS AGAIN AT THE CENTRE OF URSULA MAYER'S FILM INTERIORS (2006). FOR THE SET, MAYER CHOSE THE HOME OF THE ARCHITECT ERNÖ GOLDFINGER AND HIS FAMILY, LOCATED ON 2 WILLOW ROAD IN HAMPSTEAD. THIS PLACE REPRESENTS THE ARTISTIC AVANT-GARDE IN 1930S LONDON. GOLDFINGER'S ART COLLECTION, WHICH COMPRISES CLASSICAL MODERN WORKS FROM MAX ERNST TO MARCEL DUCHAMP, IS USED IN THE FILM AS A UNIQUE SETTING AND DRAMATIC ELEMENT. WITH THIS HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT BACKGROUND, A MEETING BETWEEN A YOUNG WOMAN AND AN ELDERLY ONE IS IMAGINED TO TAKE PLACE, WHEN IN FACT IT NEVER DID. ULTIMATELY, A REPLICA OF A SCULPTURE MADE BY THE PROMINENT BRITISH SCULPTRESS BARBARA HEPWORTH, AS A DIFFERENT PERCEPTION OF TIME AND REALITY, BECOMES BOTH A SEPARATING AS WELL AS A BINDING ELEMENT BETWEEN THE CONTRASTS OF THE TRADITIONAL AND THE MODERN.
“MAYER'S FILM HIGHLIGHTS THE ABSENCE OF A FEMALE PRESENCE IN ARCHITECTURE AND FILM BY MEANS OF A SEQUENCE OF ENCOUNTERS, SOME OF WHICH APPEAR LIKE STILLS, IN THE TRADITION OF CINDY SHERMAN'S UNTITLED FILM STILLS.”
(WALTER SEIDL, INTERIORS, CATALOGUE, VERBUND SAMMLUNG WIEN)

CREDITS:
Written and directed by
URSULA MAYER
Cinematographer
DAVID ROM
Actors
ELAINE BANHAM
KATI URHO
Editors
URSULA MAYER
KONRAD WELZ
Sound design
KONRAD WELZ
Thanks to
NATIONAL TRUST
MILNER REBECCA
MARTIN FLETCHER
Produced for
steirischer herbst 2006
No space is innocent!