Insignificance (film)
Encyclopedia
Insignificance is a 1985
1985 in film
-Events:* 3 December - Roger Moore steps down from the role of James Bond after twelve years and seven films. He is replaced by Timothy Dalton.* The Academy Award for Best Picture was won by Out Of Africa, while the highest grossing film was Back to the Future.* Bliss wins AFI Award for best Movie...

 motion picture drama/comedy directed by Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Jack Roeg, CBE, BSC is an English film director and cinematographer.-Life and career:Roeg was born in London, the son of Mabel Gertrude and Jack Nicolas Roeg...

, produced by Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Jack Thomas, CBE is a British film producer, founder of the Recorded Picture Company. He was the producer of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2006 he received a European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World...

 and Alexander Stuart, and adapted by Terry Johnson
Terry Johnson (dramatist)
Terry Johnson is a British dramatist and director working for stage, television and film. He is a Literary Associate at the Royal Court Theatre. At The Court he directed Dumb Show by Joe Penhall and opened his play Piano/Forte...

 from his play of the same name. The film is set in 1954, with most of the action taking place in a hotel room in New York City. The action revolves around the interplay of four characters who represent iconic figures of the era, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....

, Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...

, Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...

 and Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...

 called The Actress, The Senator, The Ballplayer, and The Professor, respectively.

Background

Insignificance was originally a play, written by Terry Johnson and performed at the Royal Court in 1982, with Judy Davis
Judy Davis
Judy Davis is an Australian actress best known for her roles in Husbands and Wives, Barton Fink, A Passage to India and in the TV miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows....

 as The Actress. The seed for Johnson's play was his having read that an autographed photograph of Einstein was found amongst Marilyn Monroe's possessions upon her death. The idea of them meeting piqued his interest, and he wrote what became a meditation on the nature of fame. "It was always meant to be a play about the era, about fame...what these people stood for, the fact that this was different from what they are." He was interested in exploring the differences between who these people really were, as opposed to what qualities others assumed or imbued them with. Johnson acknowledges that there are "lots of little cheats" in the play, mostly to do with exactly where and when The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role...

 was filmed, and the timing of Marilyn's marriage to Joe DiMaggio. Einstein was also never called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...

, "but," he said, "had it gone on longer, I can see that as having been a big possibility. He was there in spirit, as it were."

Roeg saw the play and felt it "might be a tool to use. An incident came up in my own life and I thought, 'Good God, nobody knows a damn thing about anyone.' That was the premise that started me thinking about the piece again." Roeg notes that Insignificance is usually talked about as a meeting between Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein, but what moved him was the pain of the problems between The Actress and The Ballplayer, who are married but seem to know nothing about each other. Insignificance would become his first film adapted from a play.

Roeg asked Johnson to work on the screenplay, which at first meant simply reducing the play to approximately 90 minutes as opposed to two hours, but then Roeg began making suggestions which would expand the screenplay and include flashbacks to the characters histories, and flashforwards of imagination. His suggestions inspired Johnson to focus on a deeper development of the characters, while Roeg himself began to imagine how the film could open then play spatially as well as laterally. "He opened it backwards," Johnson said.

Plot

The film opens on a crowded New York City street where people have gathered to watch a film crew shoot a sequence which becomes recognizable as the iconic shot of Marilyn Monroe in a white dress standing on a grate while the rush of wind caused by a huge fan to imitate the subway going by below blows her skirt up around her waist. The Actress' husband, The Ballplayer, watches with obvious discomfort as she is ogled. The Actress, rather than join him afterwards, disappears in a taxi, leaving him behind. She stops at a store and picks up a variety of toys, flashlights, and balloons.

The Professor, recognizable as Albert Einstein, is in his hotel room, working on pages of mathematical calculations. He is interrupted by The Senator, who has come to alternately coax and threaten him into appearing before a committee to investigate his activities and answer the famous question, "Have you now or have you ever been...?" The Senator is recognizable as Joe McCarthy. The Professor refuses and says he will never appear. The Senator leaves, saying he'll back to get him at 8 a.m. the following morning.

The Actress appears at the door of the Professor's hotel room, and he invites her in. They talk about fame, being chased, and the stars. She does a lively demonstration of the Theory of Relativity using the toys and flashlights and balloons. She tells The Professor he is at the top of her list of people she'd like to sleep with. They decide to go to bed, but are interrupted by the arrival of The Ballplayer, who has tracked her to the hotel. The Professor leaves them alone and goes to find another room, meeting a Cherokee elevator man with whom he speaks. The Actress and The Ballplayer talk about their marriage; The Actress tells her husband she believes she is pregnant, but he has fallen asleep.

The following morning The Senator arrives at The Professor's room to find him gone, but The Actress naked and alone in his bed. The Senator mistakes her for a call girl and threatens to use her to expose and embarrass The Professor, then punches her hard in the abdomen, causing her to collapse in pain. The Professor returns while The Senator is collecting all of the hundreds of pages of The Professor's work to take away with him. The Professor grabs the papers and throws them out of the windows, while The Actress writhes in agony on the bed. The Senator leaves, defeated in his purpose. The Ballplayer returns and talks about his fame in the baseball world, and confides in him about his marital problems while The Actress is in the bathroom. She finally announces to him that their marriage is over, and he leaves.

The Actress becomes impatient with The Professor, sensing that he is hiding something. He is sitting on the bed with his watch, which has stopped at 8.15, in one hand, and the alarm clock in the other as the hour approaches 8.15 (the time that "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima). He confesses his terrible feelings of guilt about the event, and she reassures him. Right at 8.15 a.m. as she is leaving, he has a vision of the destruction of the room, Hiroshima, the world. The Actress' skirt swirls in flames as she burns in his vision. Then the film reverses and the world is restored to order as she smiles and leaves.

Production

All of the interiors for Insignificance were shot at Lee Studios in Wembley, with exteriors shot in New York City. Mise-en-scène was created through the use of Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...

's post-cubism painting "Woman and Child on the Seashore" which underscores The Actress' pain about her childlessness , while the fractured structure of the narrative was mirrored in the splintered image of Theresa Russell used as a nude calender shot of The Acress. Created by photographer-collagist David Hockney
David Hockney
David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....

, the image is, according to film critic Chuck Stephens, "a pinup in a hundred pieces, a centerfold sent through a centrifuge..." and is a reflection of The Actress. With "her much-exposed and famously exploited psyche already splintered into jagged, mingled shards of kittenish innocence, movie business cunning, overwhelming erotic appeal, and abject inner terror, Monroe was postcubism's quintessential glittering star...perfectly pieced together and seen prismatically all at once..." The image is also a metaphor for Roeg's non-linear filmmaking, Stephens notes that "for a cine-cubist like Roeg, two entirely disparate spatial and temporal dimensions are never more than a splice apart, and in Insignificance, the past is always present, and never goes away."

Critical reception

Insignificance received mostly positive reviews at the time of its release, and currently has a 73% score at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

  The film has been written about extensively in the years since it was first seen. Film Four's movie critic wrote: "Roeg really is the perfect director to bring Johnson's stage play to the screen. Throughout, tortured childhood flashbacks and pessimistic flash-forwards (ka-boom!) draw unexpected connections between time, place and circumstance, with the repeated visual motif of a wristwatch employed to mark time's passing - but perhaps also to suggest all time is one time; each moment co-existing. As evinced by his back catalogue, it's something of a hobbyhorse for a director enchanted with the notion of synchronicity - see Don't Look Now in particular. Here, 1920 bleeds into 1945 and drip-feeds into the 1980s, a period in which another 'Actor' has taken on his greatest role as the President of the United States."

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat write: "Insignificance shines with some incandescent moments of acting bravado delivered by Theresa Russell, Tony Curtis, and Gary Busey. As a weird meditation on sex, power, knowledge, and fame, this is a four-star treat for those who savor exotic movie fare...Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth) draws out the inner psychological nuances of the drama and delivers the philosophical freight in Terry Johnson's screenplay."

Cast

  • Michael Emil - The Professor
  • Theresa Russell
    Theresa Russell
    Theresa Russell is an American actress.-Biography:Russell was born Theresa Paup in San Diego, California, the daughter of Carole Platt and Jerry Russell Paup. She attended Burbank High School, but did not graduate. She married English film director Nicolas Roeg , in 1982...

     - The Actress
  • Tony Curtis
    Tony Curtis
    Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...

     - The Senator
  • Gary Busey
    Gary Busey
    William Gary Busey , best known as Gary Busey, is an American film and stage actor and artist. He has appeared in a large variety of films, as well as making regular appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage...

     - The Ballplayer
  • Will Sampson
    Will Sampson
    Will Sampson was an American actor and artist.-Life and career:Sampson, a Native American Muscogee , was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Sampson's most notable roles were as "Chief Bromden" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and as "Taylor the Medicine Man" in the horror film Poltergeist II...

     - Elevator Attendant
  • Patrick Kilpatrick
    Patrick Kilpatrick
    Robert Donald Kilpatrick, Jr. is an American character actor with over 85 film and TV appearances to his credit. He made his film debut relatively late in 1985 with The Toxic Avenger.-Life and career:...

     - Driver
  • Ian O'Connell - Assistant Director
  • George Holmes
    George Holmes
    George Holmes can refer to:* George Holmes , 3rd Bishop of Athabasca* George Holmes , Professor of Medieval History Emeritus at the University of Oxford* Dr. George Holmes, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bolton...

     - Actor
  • Richard Davidson
    Richard Davidson
    Richard J. Davidson is professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.-Early life and Education:Born in Brooklyn, Richard "Richie" Davidson attended Midwood High School...

     - Director of Photography
  • Mitchell Greenberg - Technician
  • Raynor Scheine
    Raynor Scheine
    Raynor Scheine is an American actor who has appeared in films for three decades dating back to 1979, including My Cousin Vinny and Fried Green Tomatoes. His name is a play on the phrase "rain or shine".-Broadway performances:...

     - Autograph Hunter
  • Jude Ciccolella
    Jude Ciccolella
    Richard Jude Ciccolella , better known as Jude Ciccolella, is an American character actor.-Biography:Ciccolella graduated from Brown University, class of 1969 where he acted in student productions. He studied at Temple University with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre...

     - Gaffer
  • Lou Hirsch
    Lou Hirsch
    Lou Hirsch is an actor, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, United States, and currently based in the United Kingdom. He studied at the University of Miami and The Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, UK, with future Star Trek actress Marina Sirtis...

     - Charlie
  • Ray Charleson - Bud
  • Joel Cutrara - Bar Drunk

Awards

The film was entered into the 1985 Cannes Film Festival
1985 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Miloš Forman *Claude Imbert *Edwin Zbonek *Francis Veber *Jorge Amado *Mauro Bolognini *Michel Perez *Mo Rothmann *Néstor Almendros *Sarah Miles...

 where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...

 and won the Technical Grand Prize.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to the film was released on the British label ZTT Records
ZTT Records
ZTT Records is a record label founded in 1983 by NME journalist Paul Morley, record producer Trevor Horn, and businesswoman Jill Sinclair. The label's name was also printed as "Zang Tumb Tuum" and "Zang Tuum Tumb" on various releases....

. It featured a diverse selection of professional artists and composers including movie composer Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...

, Glenn Gregory
Glenn Gregory
Glenn Gregory is an English musician. A founding member of Heaven 17, he was partly responsible for hit records such as "Temptation"....

, Claudia Brücken
Claudia Brücken
Claudia Brücken is a German singer who fronted the synthpop groups Propaganda and Act. Since 1996 she has been working with OMD member Paul Humphreys, first without a name, since 2004 as Onetwo...

, Stanley Myers
Stanley Myers
Stanley Myers , was a prolific British film composer who scored over sixty films. Born in Birmingham, as a teenager Myers went to King Edward's School in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birmingham...

, Midge Ure
Midge Ure
James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...

 (occasional guitar) and Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...

. In addition, Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...

 and his orchestra contributed with an interpretation of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony
Symphony No. 41 (Mozart)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed his Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551, on 10 August 1788. It was the last symphony that he composed.The work is nicknamed the Jupiter Symphony...

.

In popular culture

The title of the film was used by musician Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke (musician)
Jim O'Rourke is an Irish-American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene...

 for his album Insignificance
Insignificance (Jim O'Rourke album)
Insignificance is an album by American musician Jim O'Rourke. It was released on Drag City in 2001. It is the third of three albums recorded by O'Rourke to be named after films by Nicolas Roeg, and features Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche of Wilco .-Reception:The online music magazine Pitchfork Media...

.

The film is also featured in Big Audio Dynamite
Big Audio Dynamite
Big Audio Dynamite are a British musical group formed in 1984 by the ex-guitarist and singer of the Clash, Mick Jones. The group are noted for their effective mixture of varied musical styles, incorporating elements of punk rock, dance music, hip hop, reggae, and funk...

's music video for "E=MC2" as clips are shown throughout the video and are also referenced throughout the song.

Home media

Insignificance was released on VHS in 1992, on Laserdisc a few years later, and on DVD in 2003. In June of 2011 the Criterion Collection released a fully restored and re-mastered DVD and Blu-ray edition, containing interviews with Nicolas Roeg, Terry Johnson, long-time Roeg editor Tony Lawson, and the short film, "Making 'Insignificance'". The release also contains a booklet with excerpts from the August 1985 Roeg-Johnson interview called "Relatively Speaking" in the 1985 Monthly Film Bulletin, and an essay by film critic Chuck Stephens.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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