Screening: The Experimental Touch

dublin | arts and media | event notice Friday October 15, 2010 19:12 by Film Qlub - Film Qlub filmqlub at gmail dot com

A forgotten classic film by William Dieterle

A remarkable love story, a prison drama, a socially-conscious film, and an experimental film all rolled into one. The somewhat misleadingly titled 'Sex in Chains' tells the story of a perfect match and a perfect marriage, which despite the couple’s devotion to each other, can not sustain the pressures brought about by poverty, injustice, and loneliness.

THE EXPERIMENTAL TOUCH: A FORGOTTEN CLASSIC FILM BY WILLIAM DIETERLE

The Dublin Film Qlub is pleased to announce its next screening:

SEX IN CHAINS (1928)
Wednesday, 3 November 2010, at 7:30 pm
Outhouse Theatre (105 Capel street, Dublin 1)

SEX IN CHAINS
Germany. 1928. Silent. B&W. 107 min.
Original title: Geschlecht in Fesseln
Dir. William Dieterle
Cast: William Dieterle, Gunnar Tolnaes, Mary Johnson, Paul Henckels
Script: Herbert Juttke and Gwerg C. Klaren

'Sex in Chains' is one of a series of masterpieces with a queer slant produced in Germany before the raise of the Nazis to power. Wilhelm Dieterle, together with Murnau, Pabst, and many others, resettled in Hollywood and brought with them some of the flair for experimentation, the political conscience, and the new approach to eroticism, which had been a landmark of the best European films of the 1910s and 1920s. The film includes some extraordinary scenes set in a male prison, and it offers an impressively matter-of-fact approach to sexual experimentation. It also includes some discrete but memorable visual experimentation, inviting the viewer to reflect on ‘imprisonment’ as a metaphor for all those things we can-not or will-not do. 'Sex in Chains' is a magnificent film, which deserves to be rescued from obscurity and revisited on the screen. You may have heard the hype about the just-released lesbian romance-drama 'The Kids are Alright'... If you are looking for a truly moving story of a couple under pressure, with a queer slant, look no further than 'Sex in Chains': a masterclass on fine acting, glorious cinematography, and wondrous screenwriting.

THE FILM QLUB
The Film Qlub is a Dublin-based, not for profit club, offering one screening per month. The Qlub focuses on films of interest to the LGBTQ community and their friends. Anyone who supports that community and likes good films is welcome. The screenings are programmed around a common theme, and the first season, of ten screenings, focuses on silent films. There is free tea and coffee before the screening, and an open discussion on the film after. For more information on forthcoming films etc, visit the Film Qlub website.
Film Qlub Day membership: 8 euro. Full Season Membership: 30 euro (unwaged)/60 euro.