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+title = "Peter Greenaway: The Baby of Mâcon"
+lang = "en"
+
+[taxonomies]
+tags = ["film", "Peter Greenaway", "surrealism"]
+
+[extra]
+author = "harald"
++++
+
+{% figure(img="baby-of-macon.jpg") %}
+_The Baby of Mâcon_ poster. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.
+{% end %}
+
+There's film, and there's film by Peter Greenaway.
+
+I've been a fan of this extraordinary film maker from the first time I saw [The
+Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover]. So I was sligthly surprised when I found
+a new film directed by the master that I didn't know about. [The Baby of Mâcon]
+is far from new, but not one of his most well known films. Released in 1993, it
+stired some controversy and was [refused distribution] in the USA. That pretty
+much sealed its fate as an underground classic.
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+As usual with Greenaway, the set and the filming is magnificent! The film is
+set in a 17th century italian theatre, and we follow a stageplay about
+corruption, desception and religious abuse and power. That is, we're woven in
+and out of the play itself as well as the interaction with the audience and the
+actors themselves. A wealthy prince and his court is in the audience, but also
+takes part in the play. Sometimes as a commentators, sometimes directly taking
+part in the act itself. Also the line between the actors and their characters
+blurr as the story unfolds. All of this wrapped in a magnificent theatre set
+filled with religious ornaments, relics and an aura of sacredness.
+
+> "The men and the women does not play in their beds anymore. Copulation is serious business!"
+
+While the set is beautiful, the plot is all but. The play takes us to the
+village of Mâcon where famine and drought have caused the animals to wither and
+the women to become infertile.
+
+In the midst of this a baby is born by an old and ugly woman. A beautiful child
+that gives hope to the vilage that the bad times are ending.
+
+The child is abused, first by his elder sister which sees the hope and
+desperation of the villagers as a source to enrich herself. She claims it's her
+child born by virgin birth, and stages him as a divine creature that provides
+blessings to the villagers willing to pay the price. And indeed the village
+prospers and with it the power of the childs sister.
+
+The story that unfolds is ugly and meant to challenge the viewer. It's
+difficult to feel sympathy with anybody, and the level of corruption permeating
+every scene brings as much distaste as the scenery itself brings joy. This is
+where Peter Greenaway shines. By the way he portrays the people that could
+evoke some symapthy he makes the viewer an accomplice to the tragedy, because
+they are so unlikeable. Even the child itself, which at first appears an
+innocent victim of his sisters greed is at the end of it in some sort of
+control of the entire situation. Far from the innocent instrument from which
+others can enrich themselves.
+
+[The Baby of Mâcon] is a film that can not be described. It has to be experienced.
+
+[The Baby of Mâcon]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106335/
+[The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097108/
+[refused distribution]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106335/trivia?item=tr0729697
+