‘Electra, My Love’ or — Horses and Bottoms?
I’ve always been wary of the long take in movies as even though they can be used to excellent effect (’The Gang’s All Here’ — 1943) they can be as equally gimmicky, stupid and annoying (’Atonement’ — 2007). Yet my biggest concern with long take cinema is that it is frequently deployed to create an atmosphere of contemplation, quiet examination and meditation — i.e. boring and dull, and I demand constant and excessive visual stimulation otherwise I kick off like a tired and hungry toddler in a hot car. So how would I cope watching a movie that’s an adaptation of a Greek play with Hungarian political themes, is shot in nothing but an almost empty field and is constructed from only TWELVE individual shots?
Turns out, rather pretty well!
Now I don’t know anything about Hungarian history or politics and I know only a teeny-weeny bit more about the Greek classics, but even I could tell that Miklós Jancsó’s ‘Electra, My Love’ (1974) was more about control, power and domination in Hungary than anything to do with Sophocles’ tragedy itself. Electra herself is a force of disruption against rigid order as she moves through various shifting groups of people representing different aspects of a society that needs disrupting. A stripped back, almost minimalist production design along with the intense importance of the landscape mean the emphasis on Hungary and its people couldn’t be clearer… I think! It certainly didn’t seem to be about Greece. Add onto this the fact that we’re frequently looking at nothing but a load of horses and people’s naked bottoms then ‘Electra, My Love’ runs the risk of being impenetrable, boring and laughable.
What stops it from being so is the way Jancsó and his crew move the camera during these extended, unbroken sequences so that impactful revelation is occurring on an almost continuous basis and where every time the camera moves something radically different is brought into being. So a shot might start off with a close up of the almost pixelated shimmer of a peacock’s tail before pulling out to reveal horses galloping across a distant, glowing horizon only to then focus in on a woman’s face or a hill peppered with candles before panning to reveal previously hidden crowds before coming to rest on an isolated swordsman swinging his weapon and bathed in golden light. All this, and more, happens with a single shot and it is utterly bewitching.
Jancsó also utilises an extremely elaborate and captivating layering effect that combines energetic lateral flowing movements. A line of men will pass by in front of the camera from right to left whilst, behind them, a line of women will move from left to right with yet another line of men behind them dancing in the opposite direction and then more women behind that. Beyond even all this there will be a constant equestrian flux adding even more information and flow to the screen and providing moments when there’s often six, seven or even more layers of movement, all with separate orbits, gliding across the screen. It is dazzling to behold.
Combine all this with a very sophisticated and precise use of space, ravishing natural light and a striking colour palette and it means that whenever a new shot begins we’re immediately fascinated as to where it will ultimately take us, where it will end up when it has finished and just what wonders will we have seen in the process.
The final shot of the movie is particularly impressive and not just because of the shocking jolt of the sudden appearance of a blazing red anachronistic intrusion but for the almost miraculous timing and choreography of it all. I was sitting there watching the scene and was flabbergasted that they were actually pulling something so audacious and elaborate off in real time before my eyes.
‘Electra, My Love’ is a fascinating movie although it was, for me, maybe a more cerebral than emotional experience and the many naked bottoms do almost tip it into art house parody but the captivating pull of that shimmering light, those seemingly infinite expanses and such carefully orchestrated beauty result in a movie that’s like nothing else I’ve ever seen.
It’s not perfect, and being a hay fever sufferer I did find looking at all that summery grass a tad concerning, but this is a truly unique, technically accomplished and visually exhilarating experience. And that’s not bad for something that’s, basically, nothing but a load of horses and bottoms.
