In 1951,
Jean-Isidore Isou released his first film,
"Venom and Eternity". Isou, who made his name as a poet, painter, and economic theorist, was founder of
"Lettrism", the most radical art movement in history, committed to a complete remaking of aesthetics from the ground up.
Georges Bataille lauded his poetry as "superb". Isou now unleashed his talents in his wildest work yet, and the incendiary results are with us to this day.
"Venom and Eternity" features the smoldering, searing presence of Isou himself, playing a young film aesthete who rewrites all conventions of filmmaking, morality, and propriety before our very eyes. Multiple fractured narratives are introduced, then discarded as they lose their charm. In an Oedipal revenge against the patriarchal image, Isou allows the soundtrack to dominate, assaulting the audience with haughty, ironic rants, and howled primal chants. Not satisfied by this means of attack, Isou introduces the most willfully disjointed cutting style up to this point in film history, then paints on, scratches, and gouges the filmstock itself.
"Venom and Eternity"'s premiere at Cannes was greeted by riots quelled only by the use of firehoses. Jean Cocteau, who appears in the film, nevertheless prevailed upon the authorities to invent a prize for a work so groundbreaking, the "Prix spectateurs d'avant garde 1951". Chaos ensued as "Venom" made its way around the world, including a riot at its San Francisco premiere!
Isou's activities spurred not only the aesthetic innovation of American filmmaker Stan Brakhage and the French New Wave (and hence the whole modern visual world), but the social and political radicalism of the international youth rebellion movement, and the pranksterism of the Situationist International, directly inspiring the fury spilling onto streets around the world starting in May '68!
"Is 'Venom' a springboard or is it a void? In fifty years we'll know the answer. After all, remember how Wagner was received. Today, no one objects to his outbursts. The day will come, perhaps, when Isou's style will be the fashion. Who can tell?" -Jean Cocteau, 1951
A "masterpiece... often breathtaking"! -Jonathan Rosenbaum, 2005
Not on video!
