A hypochondriac dwarf aristocrat chases aesthetic perfection while his servant-lover enables the chaos.
Follows experiments of fictional 19th century aristocrat Monsieur Lautréamont, a hypochondriac dandy committed to the pursuit of true aesthetic perfection which he calls “urge-ingeniousness”. The film focuses on the interplay between Lautréamont and Louise, his seductive servant, and switches back and forth between Bock as the master and his reliance on Louise who is all at once nurse, servant, inspiration and lover. The film crosses the boundaries of surreal fantasy and period drama, with Bock playing the tormented genius, an inventor attempting to achieve perfection in every creative aspect: poetry, perfume, and even nature. Filmed at Chateau du Bosc, the family home of the aristocratic dwarf Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. Toulouse Lautrec is clearly the inspiration for Bock’s character
Production
Shot in Toulouse-Lautrec's actual family chateau.
Direction
Bock directs himself as grotesque dandy-inventor.
Costume
Sickly aristocratic drag meets medical fetish.
Director
John Bock
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Château du Bosc was Toulouse-Lautrec's childhood home; Bock's dwarf performance directly channels the painter's physicality and aristocratic decay.
The film belongs to a 2000s wave of German experimental cinema where visual artists (Bock, Schlingensief) used film as living installation.
DE
