Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen (2012)

December 31, 2024 2:25 PM

A simple yet timeless love story between a man and a woman, told using scenes edited together from hundreds of other films.

I found a single reference to this on the Blue but only in passing, and it's a real treat for film lovers imo. I arranged a viewing party with friends, we projected the film onto a wall in the restored train station, it was fun. I could watch this every few years with a few pals. Rhaomi's superpost, and specifically the kissing montage from Cinema Paradiso, made me think of this.

Says trailer but it looks like the first few minutes of the film. I have thought a lot about this film but I'll wait to see if anyone else wants to get the conversation started.

Full movie available on YouTube

posted by ginger.beef (5 comments total)

Yes, Ladies & Gentlemen is tons of fun for anyone, and especially people who love cinema or film history. It's basically a video mixtape with a narrative. Pretty much any famous film you can name is represented, but there are also bits and pieces from some obscure titles, including more than a few from Hungary (or so I hear). It would be fascinating to learn about the process used to assemble so many fragments into one coherent narrative.

They also edited soundtracks from various films such that they provide an "original" score for the entire experience. Some of the juxtapositions are really clever too, like using the theme from 12 Monkeys for a love scene. Somehow, it still flows seamlessly from beginning to end.

It's also, for me at least, a study in the ways that men and women have been portrayed in film over the decades. Ladies & Gentlemen is 100% trope, and by the time the credits roll, I felt a better understanding of how gender roles are encoded on the screen. That the editors could find so many familiar images from so many films, all showing us the same dynamic, says a lot. Some cuts are used ironically. Most are showing us conventional images of a boy-meets-girl drama. Then again, it makes sense that the editors chose a conventional theme, considering how much material they had to work with.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 5:10 PM on December 31, 2024 [4 favorites]

Short interview with Hungarian director György Pálfi, Cannes 2012
posted by ginger.beef at 9:07 AM on January 1

Also on Vimeo, apparently a better version than YT.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 4:10 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]

I saw this at a showing in the main gallery of an art museum, which added to the experience.

The thing that it brought into focus for me is not just a common "trope" thing of the stories, but how common the visual language is across countries and filmmakers and decades. It wouldn't flow as well as it does without cinematographers and directors going "ok, if people are going to understand it, we need to do it the same way as it has been for so long".

Also, I admit chuckling a little when bits of Star Wars appear.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:33 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]

Good point. Landmark Cinema used to use a promo trailer that said "The language of cinema is universal" in various languages. It really is! I guess the vocabulary evolved from decades of filmmakers learning from each other and copying whatever is effective for telling a certain type of story.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 3:16 PM on January 6 [2 favorites]