Harpya
Encyclopedia
Harpya is a 1979
short Belgian
animated film written and directed by Raoul Servais
. It stars Will Spoor, Fran Waller Zeper and Sjoert Schwibethus. The film won the Palme d'Or
for Best Short Film at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival
.
of his characters onto a multiplane
filmed, black velvet
background.
-styled man (Spoor) is walking down a dark street, when he hears the cries of a woman (Waller Zeper) as she is being strangled in a fountain. The man knocks out her assailant (Schwibethus), only to discover that she is in fact a Harpy
, a winged white bird, larger than an eagle, having the (bald) head and breasts of a woman. Fascinated, the man takes the beast to his home to shelter and feed it. He soon discovers the Harpy's insatiable appetite. The Harpy eats all his food, then eats his parrot, and begins eyeing her host with a sinister stare. One night, when the man attempts to escape, the Harpy overwhelms him and eats his legs.
Later, once the Harpy is asleep, the man crawls out of his house, joyfully finding French fries
to eat. The Harpy flies out of the house and discovers him, eating his snack. The desperate, enraged man then attempts to strangle her. Upon hearing her cries, a police officer
comes to the rescue and saves the would-be "victim", knocking the man to the ground; the Harpy then looks up at the officer in glee.
's primal uncanny
and Kristeva
's notion of the abject
in cinema. The film can also be read as a modern retelling of the mythological femme fatale story - a warning to men captivated by the allure of a dangerous female.
1979 in film
The year 1979 in film involved some significant events.- Major events :* March 5 - Production begins on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.* May 25 - Alien, a landmark of the science fiction genre, is released....
short Belgian
Cinema of Belgium
Belgium is essentially a bi-lingual country divided into the Flemish north and the French-speaking south. There is also a small community of German speakers in the border region with Germany...
animated film written and directed by Raoul Servais
Raoul Servais
Raoul Servais is a Belgian filmmaker. He was born in Ostend.-Filmography:* 1963: The False Note* 1966: Chromophobia* 1968: Sirene* 1969: Goldframe* 1970: To speak or not to speak* 1971: Operation X-70...
. It stars Will Spoor, Fran Waller Zeper and Sjoert Schwibethus. The film won the Palme d'Or
Short Film Palme d'Or
The Short Film Palme d'Or is the highest prize given to a short film at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the same jury of the Cinéfondation....
for Best Short Film at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
.
Production
Servais animated the film using 35mm color front-projectionFront projection effect
A front projection effect is an in-camera visual effects process in film production for combining foreground performance with pre-filmed background footage...
of his characters onto a multiplane
Multiplane camera
The multiplane camera is a special motion picture camera used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another...
filmed, black velvet
Velvet
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed,with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel.The word 'velvety' is used as an adjective to mean -"smooth like velvet".-Composition:...
background.
Synopsis
A mustachioed Belle ÉpoqueBelle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
-styled man (Spoor) is walking down a dark street, when he hears the cries of a woman (Waller Zeper) as she is being strangled in a fountain. The man knocks out her assailant (Schwibethus), only to discover that she is in fact a Harpy
Harpy
In Greek mythology, a harpy was one of the winged spirits best known for constantly stealing all food from Phineas...
, a winged white bird, larger than an eagle, having the (bald) head and breasts of a woman. Fascinated, the man takes the beast to his home to shelter and feed it. He soon discovers the Harpy's insatiable appetite. The Harpy eats all his food, then eats his parrot, and begins eyeing her host with a sinister stare. One night, when the man attempts to escape, the Harpy overwhelms him and eats his legs.
Later, once the Harpy is asleep, the man crawls out of his house, joyfully finding French fries
French fries
French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...
to eat. The Harpy flies out of the house and discovers him, eating his snack. The desperate, enraged man then attempts to strangle her. Upon hearing her cries, a police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
comes to the rescue and saves the would-be "victim", knocking the man to the ground; the Harpy then looks up at the officer in glee.
Interpretation & Themes
The Harpy, with its human torso and facial features, can be aligned to FreudSigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
's primal uncanny
The Uncanny
The Uncanny is a Freudian concept of an instance where something can be familiar, yet foreign at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being uncomfortably strange or uncomfortably familiar...
and Kristeva
Julia Kristeva
Julia Kristeva is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, psychoanalyst, sociologist, feminist, and, most recently, novelist, who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She is now a Professor at the University Paris Diderot...
's notion of the abject
Abjection
The term abjection literally means "the state of being cast off". In usage it has connotations of degradation, baseness and meanness of spirit.-In critical theory:...
in cinema. The film can also be read as a modern retelling of the mythological femme fatale story - a warning to men captivated by the allure of a dangerous female.