Following A Study in Choreography for Camera, Maya Deren continues to explore what can be added to human movement purely through the cinematic. And this time, she surpasses the realm of movement altogether, even human stasis remains sufficient to produce a radically new geography. Here I have considered the two companion pieces together: Ensemble for Somnambulists and The Very Eye of Night.
Ensemble for Somnambulists starts with an eerie exploration of a tableau, a series of apparition-like figures. They appear to be suspended in space, a different geometry to it. A curved space, like the inside of a sphere, but carrying diagonal planes and oblique projections, a cross-section to stand in (for the figures), appearing at will (of the filmmaker) anywhere. Nonetheless, the topology remains curved, achieved through groundbreaking editing and phenomenally unusual camera angles/movements.
Don’t forget that no tripod has yet been built which is as miraculously versatile in movement as the complex system of supports, joints, muscles and nerves which is the human body, which, with a bit of practice, makes possible the enormous variety of camera angles and visual action. You have all this, and a brain too, in one neat, compact, mobile package.
– Amateur versus Professional, Maya Deren
In The Very Eye of Night, a different geometry is created. We find the same apparition-like figures, but more information (?) about them. A starry field stays as a backdrop, it is clear that they are amidst the stars: Gods, Aliens, …? Now the apparitions dance in planes – horizontal, vertical, oblique – at a distance from the starry backdrop. At times, the backdrop remains still while the plane moves, perhaps the backdrop moves, and the movement may occur together. A fundamentally planar geometry, carrying the same property of contingently originating grounds (planes).
I think the Ensemble for Somnambulists might be the better one, given its creation of the curved topology. Furthermore, a clear continuity from A Study in Choreography for Camera can be observed: the sequence where the dancer is present inside a Mobius strip-like surface. I wonder if there’s anyone in the history of cinema who has filmed human movement at such a singular level.