Si c'est elle

Video (DVD/VHS), 11:48 min. Language: French, Subtitle: English

« She hates doing the washing in cold water, she has healing poser, she adores dairy ice cream, she always wars a skirt, she takes you to the cinema, she leaves you at a screening there, she always tells the truth, she always sistorts the truth, she sings very well, she only sings rarely, who knows if she sings at all… » Against a white, neutral background, in a series of alternating static shots, three men describe the personality of a woman they have loved. But their descriptions, however detailed, are still elliptical, sometimes consistent, often contradictory, and the female figure remains a mystery.

Who is this woman who was loved ? Mother, lover, wife, friend ? Is she unique or is she manifold ? Over the course of the narrative constructed by Ingrid Wildi, this familiar yet distant entity becomes established and takes form. And, in a remarkable mirror effect, as the narrative develops, the caracters of the three protagonists also gradually take shape : through their choice of words to describe the loved one, their gestures and their bearing in front of the camera, their opting to use more, or less, abstract language in their accounts. In Si c’est elle Ingrid Wildi’s skillfully constructed take on langages results in an unpretentious, essentially serious puzzle, yet is shot through with humor and delicacy. This video invites us to take a fresh look at relations between men and women.






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