This was recorded as part of this year's Malmo Arab Film Festival. As the film is in very early stages of concept most of the info that is out there comes from this video and IMDB.
I'm extremely excited for this project and hope it becomes a feature length adaptation soon :)
This summer down the rabbit hole film reviews are back, but I will only be looking at one film. Because the film in question is 3 hours and 19 minutes long, making it the longest film I have explored for this project.
Celine et Julie vont au bateau, or Celine and Julie go Boating, is a sprawling labyrinthine film about bored Celine who upon befriending magician Julie, finds they begin to share lives and relationships. When Celine one day stumbles out of a mysterious house with no memory of what happened to her there, the two friends become entangled in a complex mystery involving magical sweets and a potential murder.
In French, "to go boating" or "vont au bateau" is similar to the English phrase "a shaggy dog story" essentially it means to become entwined in a unbelievable story. You can probably guess how this theme links in with the film and also Carroll's Alice.
I have put this film off due to its length, so I have decided to essay/review this in parts.
Here on the blog we will have 3/4 essays corresponding with different parts of the film (context, 1 hour, 2 hour, ending) whereas on Instagram you might be able to see my notes for each hour with first thoughts...
Very much aware that I have probably bitten off more than I can chew here but if ACMI thinks this film is Carrollian... it would be amiss for this blog not to explore this work.
My attempt at essays for this film starts this July, wish me luck :)
Whilst searching through archives the other day I stumbled upon New York's Public Library Archive which contains a great many things, including performance videos, and naturally several archive videos of Lewis Carroll adapting plays.
What I have found is quite long but I'm going to try and put this in a list here (and eventually add to the adaptations list on this blog)
Going in order of date:
Alice (1971, Pittsburgh ballet Theatre)
This has choreography by Ruth Page and is not the only filmed version of this ballet on this list. Strangely enough I found video excerpts for this in another archive in Chicago, but the clips were not complete (act 2 is mainly missing). This listing on NPL confirms there is a complete version stored in New York.
Alice in Wonderland (1971, Manhattan Project)
This is an experimental performance which honestly I don't know much about. Appears to have been quite famous in the 1970s and used improv imput from the actors.
Alice at the Palace (1982) missing scenes
Elizabeth Swados's Alice at the Palace certainly does exist in a viewable form (released on DVD and streaming multiple times) but NPL has a reel of bloopers as well as more interesting deleted scenes which were presumably cut for runtime reasons (the TV version lost large chunks of the looking glass adapting act)
Alice's Adventures (1985, Cincinnati/New Orleans City Ballet)
Televised version of Ruth Page's ballet, televised on the 23rd of February 1986 on PBS channel 3 in the US.
Alice (2002, State Street Ballet)
Film of Robert Sund's ballet adaptation, shown at a film festival. Features Lewis Carroll as a character.
Alicia y su pais de las maravillas (2006, Joven Ballet de Cámara)
Modern dance adaptation filmed for archive. Lewis Carroll features as a character.
Sources:
Archives:
Alice [Videorecording] 1971.” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b12168211#tab3
“Alice in Wonderland [Videorecording] 1971 Manhattan Project.” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b14391790#tab3
“Alice at the Palace 1982 : Outtakes and Scenes [Videorecording].” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b16340091#tab3
“Alice's Adventures 1985 [Videorecording].” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b12171819#tab3
“Alice 2002 [Videorecording] .” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b15997207#tab3
“Alicia y Su Pais De Las Maravillas 2006 [Videorecording].” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b17981779#tab3
Videos:
Alice in Wonderland (Act 1, Pittsburgh) . USA, 1971. http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/collections/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/867
Alice in Wonderland (Act 2, Pittsburgh) . USA, 1971. http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/collections/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/8785
Photos:
“Such a Curious Dream! Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at 150.” The Lobster Quadrille - Such a Curious Dream! Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at 150 - Houghton Library. Houghton Libary. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://library.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/static/onlineexhibits/alice/quadrille/
Historic Images. “1986 Press Photo Katherine Healy, Warren Connover in Ballet ‘Alice's Adventures.’” Historic Images. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://outlet.historicimages.com/products/rsl98951
Fernández, Celia. “Ballet Alicia y Su País De Las Maravillas Photos.” Ballet Alicia y su país de las Maravillas. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Biblioteca., May 1, 2006. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://burjcdigital.urjc.es/handle/10115/8006
My friend Curiouser Archive uploaded a better quality version of the 2004 short film Sincerely Yours, Lewis Carroll recently on Youtube, and every time I watch this film (and yes, I have seen this several times now. I love it that much) I am struck with director and writer's mature approach to the life of Charles Dodgson. It is so far the only decent "biopic" of Lewis Carroll I have seen.
The film takes place a few years before 1862, when Dodgson told the Liddells Alice's adventures Underground. The film tells the story of the year Dodgson first discovered photography and the events in this year. The film does this via Dodgson's own diary excerpts and poems. Unlike other Carroll biopics, this film does not just centre on the Liddells and Alice Liddell. We are given far more insight into Dodgson's life and hobbies than in other fictionalized portrayals. As a result Dodgson feels much more like an actual person here and not a caricature or a monster. By ignoring sensationalist inaccuracies that Leach termed "the Carroll myth" entirely, this film presents a refreshingly realistic and biographically accurate Dodgson.
No, its not completely perfect, it could have been a wonderful full length film. No Duckworth, or Dodgson's intellectual adult friends aren't characters. But it is a decent start, and I hope it will inspire other filmmakers and writers to write more accurate portrayals, and look past the temptation to fulfill the myths Dodgson has much been subjected to.
After seeing so many terrible portrayals of Dodgson for my journal article, watching this was like throwing back curtains and letting the light in.
Highly, highly recommended :)