Jerk
by Gisèle Vienne
Forbidden to the under 16
Gisèle Vienne, Jonathan Capdevielle and Dennis Cooper will be attending
In competition 2021
Official synopsis
After more than 12 years of international touring, director Gisèle Vienne adapts her cult show "Jerk" into a film. Through a long sequence shot, one witnesses the fight between the actor and his extreme role in a visceral way. That, too, of the switch from theater to cinema. A strong reminiscence of genre and horror films, the fascination with ultra-violence is explored through questions on the relationship of domination, incarnation and disembodiment of bodies.
The programmer’s eye
There’s a misunderstanding that needs to be trimmed off immediately: considering Gisèle Vienne's film to be the sole product from the recording of her chilling puppet show. Let us reassure this legitimate feeling: “Jerk” is a crazy film, a fussless sequence shot whose movements are yet perfectly mastered. Its creative and unprecedented use of the zoom allows the restoration of the feeling linked to theater without ever losing the cinematic material, and serves the intensity of Jonathan Capdevielle’s physical approach as he unleashes a bitter and raspy text as though with sap. — Pierre Guidez
Biography and Filmography
Gisèle Vienne is a franco-austrian artist, choreographer and director. After graduating in Philosophy and Music, she studied at the puppeteering school Ecole Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette. She works regularly with, among others, the writer Dennis Cooper. Over the past 20 years, her work has been touring in Europe and regularly performed in Asia and in America, among which, "I Apologize" (2004), "Kindertotenlieder" (2007), "Jerk" (2008), "This is how you will disappear" (2010), "LAST SPRING: A Prequel" (2011), "The Ventriloquists Convention" (2015) and "Crowd" (2017). In 2020, she created with Etienne Bideau-Rey a fourth version of "Showroomdummies" at the Rohm Theater Kyoto, originally created in 2001. Gisèle Vienne has frequently been exhibiting her photographs in museums among which the New York Whitney Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires. She published two books : "JERK / Through Their Tears", with Dennis Cooper, Peter Rehberg and Jonathan Capdevielle (2011) and "40 PORTRAITS 2003-2008", in collaboration with Dennis Cooper and Pierre Dourthe in February 2012. Her work has led to various publications and the original music of her shows to several albums. Her latest show "L’Étang (The Pond)" based on Robert Walser’s short story "Der Teich" was created in November 2020 at the TNB in Rennes.
2021 - JERK - Gisèle Vienne - Director
2014 - BRANDO (Short) - Gisèle Vienne - Director, Screenwriter
Dennis Cooper
Jonathan Capdevielle
DACM / Compagnie Gisèle Vienne, CND Centre national de la danse, MC93, La Compagnie des Indes
by Gisèle Vienne
Gisèle Vienne is a franco-austrian artist, choreographer and director. After graduating in Philosophy and Music, she studied at the puppeteering school Ecole Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette. She works regularly with, among others, the writer Dennis Cooper. Over the past 20 years, her work has been touring in Europe and regularly performed in Asia and in America, among which, "I Apologize" (2004), "Kindertotenlieder" (2007), "Jerk" (2008), "This is how you will disappear" (2010), "LAST SPRING: A Prequel" (2011), "The Ventriloquists Convention" (2015) and "Crowd" (2017). In 2020, she created with Etienne Bideau-Rey a fourth version of "Showroomdummies" at the Rohm Theater Kyoto, originally created in 2001. Gisèle Vienne has frequently been exhibiting her photographs in museums among which the New York Whitney Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires. She published two books : "JERK / Through Their Tears", with Dennis Cooper, Peter Rehberg and Jonathan Capdevielle (2011) and "40 PORTRAITS 2003-2008", in collaboration with Dennis Cooper and Pierre Dourthe in February 2012. Her work has led to various publications and the original music of her shows to several albums. Her latest show "L’Étang (The Pond)" based on Robert Walser’s short story "Der Teich" was created in November 2020 at the TNB in Rennes.
2021 - JERK - Gisèle Vienne - Director
2014 - BRANDO (Short) - Gisèle Vienne - Director, Screenwriter