Oh good! You found us.
We’re an on-demand movie theater where you can discover hand-picked films from festivals and collections around
the world. We make it easy for you to find films you’ll love, no matter what your interests are.
Lawrence Jordan took not only the music but the title from Erik Satie. These three pieces are probably the most famous of Satie's musical series. The precise sense of the word "gymnopédies" is unknown. Etymologically it denotes the goings on of named (gymno) children (paidos); yet here the word might also connote the gymnastics or even, in its zoological sense, the affairs of infant birds. Just how much Jordan has researched the title is unknown. Perhaps he takes the word, as it has surely become, as a sign for Satie, whose spirit permeates the film; a spirit both wistful and Rosicrucian.
GENRES
Festivals
Related Films
-
Beyond Enchantment
Where all is static motion; where music and light become one; where change and motion become one; and where the end is the beginning. Black and white cut-out animation with touches of color. Ladies of the past encounter science and natural phenomena.Start your free trial to watch
-
Poet's Dream
The poet dreams a maiden's bubbles through edifices of forest and eclectic contagion. Yet another extraordinary work from filmmaker/animator/artist Lawrence Jordan that cleverly repurposes and rearranges pre-existing materials, crafting a compelling (albeit brief) narrative out of otherwise unrelated images. Do not be alarmed...Start your free trial to watch
-
Duo Concertantes
DUO CONCERTANTES has two parts, THE CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION and PATRICIA GIVES BIRTH TO A DREAM BY THE DOORWAY. Both PATRICIA and HAMFAT ASAR (made the following year), the two most spectacular of Lawrence Jordan's animated works, operate against the backdrop of a fixed scene. In the former, it is a back...Start your free trial to watch
-
Moonlight Sonata
"After GYMNOPEDIES, I had long wanted to animate a film specifically for a pre-selected piano piece by [Erik] Satie. MOONLIGHT SONATA is that film. It was totally designed for the 'Gnossienne V' and the movements of the animation are timed to the overall rhythms as well as the specific beats of the music."...Start your free trial to watch
Reviews
(see the best reviews)Join the conversation. Log in or subscribe to write a review!
Wonderfully radical and dadaist just like the music of Satie. A tour de force of anarchic images that interweave a powerful statement.
I enjoyed listening to my all-time favorite piece of music but the Monty Python-esque, steampunkish mishmash of forced allegory did not suit Satie's aural vision of serenity at all. Too "arty" for my blood.
Delightful animation combined with Satie's "Gymnopedies". What else could one ask for?
Not crazy about the colors, and nothing much held it together for me, though it's pleasant to watch. It seems meaningless, though pretty. I do like the final image quite a bit.
It's blue hue gives the video a somber feel which is only furthered by the lone piano playing.