Summary
The wooden hands of a mannequin hold a pair of dice. "A throw of dice will never
abolish chance"... At St Bernard, a modern villa stands amidst the runs
of an ancient castle. Far away, in Paris, two men wearing stocking masks throw dice
and decide to set out on their journey. They drive across open French countryside
and arrive at the villa. The building is totally deserted... Yet, in a forgotten
corner, four young people, also wearing stocking masks, are throwing dice. They
decide to play in the swimming pool. They amuse themselves for what seems like an
eternity but they are soon gone. Are these merely echoes of the past? The
next day, a man and a woman arrive in the deserted villa. They find the dice and decide
to stay. They become statues...
Review
The most well-known film from the great surrealist artist Man Ray, Les Mystères
du château de Dé is a hauntingly evocative poem to the transitory nature
of life and a reminder of the role that chance plays in the grand scheme of things.
The film includes some memorable surrealist touches (including the opening shot of the
dice in the mannequin's hands and the fact that everyone in the film wears a stocking
mask) and some thought-provoking poetic observations. Often perplexing, Mystères
du château de Dé is also a profoundly spiritual work, in which the spectator
is as much a partipant as the masked actors.
The film was shot mainly in the villa of the Vincomte de Noailles, who also financed the
film. De Noailles was a keen supporter of avant-garde artists of the 1920s, sponsoring
the work of, amongst others, Jean Cocteau and Luis Buñuel, as well as Man Ray.
© James Travers 2002
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