Marloes - ANNABELLE

ANNABELLE, BARBRA, BECKY [...] FALLING OR OBLIVIOUS

Annabelle, Barbra, Becky, Alexis, Krystle, Ellen, Olive, Eve and Kirsten, not stumbling, sliding, sinking falling or oblivious / 2014
Commissioned by Transition Gallery for Folkestone Fringe Festival
Folkestone Triennial Fringe 29 August – 4 October 2014
Video: Shot on Sony FS700 at 200 FPS
Running time: 05:00 min
Written, Produced and Directed: Marloes ten Bhömer
Direction advisor: Noam Toran
Director of photography: Per Tingleff
Soundtrack: Sam Conran
Color Grading: Martin Sansom

The relationship between mobility and women is intriguing and complex. In media such as cinema, television and fashion photography (and even in early Muybridge photography), the female subject can often be found lying down, sometimes sexually inviting, sometimes lethargic, and sometimes, as seen in a recent Marc Jacobs’ advert or in any of the countless TV crime serials, literally lifeless. Her immobility suggests a lack of energy, agency or power, or worse, personality. The inert female subject becomes a mannequin, inanimate, objectified and fetishised, and this demeaning representation suggests darker social forces at work. Annabelle, Barbra, Becky, Alexis, Krystle, Ellen, Olive, Eve and Kirsten, not stumbling, sliding, sinking falling or oblivious (2014) questions contemporary social constructions of women, and to what extent notions of mobility play a role. The video piece references moments in cinematic history where a women’s mobility has been compromised for various reasons: to provide suspense, to bring about a character assassination, to satirise, to provide comedic relief, to silence a voice.

Films cited:
The General – 1929 / Dir: Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton / Actress: Marion Mack as Annabelle Lee
Night of the Living Dead – 1968 / Dir: George A. Romero / Actress: Judith O'Dea as Barbra
Invasion of the Body Snatchers – 1956 / Dir: Don Siegel / Actress: Dana Wynter as Becky Driscoll
Dynasty - 1982 / Dir: Philip Leacock / Actress: Linda Evans as Krystle and as Alexis Carrington and Joan Collins as Alexis Carrington Colby
Leave Her to Heaven - 1945 / Dir: John M. Stahl / Actress: Gene Tierney as Ellen Berent Harland
Popeye the Sailor - A Dream Walking 1934 – Creator Elzie Crisler Segar / Character: Olive Oyl as Olive Oyl
North by Northwest - 1949 / Dir: Alfred Hitchcock / Actress: Eva Marie Saint as Eve Kendal
Nightmare on Elmstreet 4, The Dream Master - 1988 / Dir: Renny Harlin / Actress: Tuesday Knight As Kristen

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