‘Obsessed with Light’ shows enduring influence of dancer Loie Fuller
The influence of pioneering dancer Loie Fuller is the subject of the illuminating documentary, “Obsessed with Light.” Out actress Cherry Jones expresses Fuller’s words and thoughts as the film recounts her career. While directors Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum do provide some biographical details — Fuller was born Marie Louise Fuller in 1862 around Chicago … Read More
The influence of pioneering dancer Loie Fuller is the subject of the illuminating documentary, “Obsessed with Light.” Out actress Cherry Jones expresses Fuller’s words and thoughts as the film recounts her career.
While directors Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum do provide some biographical details — Fuller was born Marie Louise Fuller in 1862 around Chicago and started performing at age 14 — “Obsessed with Light” is less about her life than it is about her work and her legacy. Even though Fuller’s partner Gab(rielle) Bloch is discussed and quoted in the film, their relationship is not addressed at any great length, a disappointing omission. (If Fuller truly was as “open about her sexuality” as the film’s press notes indicate, one would not know that that from watching this documentary.)
Instead, viewers are treated to film clips, a flip book, and various iterations of Fuller’s famous Serpentine Dance. Archival footage of her performances illustrates the grace and beauty of her work. However, these clips start to feel repetitive after a while, although fans of Fuller’s style of dance will be mesmerized.
“Obsessed with Light” breaks down how Fuller’s dance came to be and what makes it so distinctive. The artist William Kentridge explains that Fuller created movement in performance by swirling around in diaphanous cloths. The film reveals that she had received an Indian Nautch girl’s dress and moved in it like a whirling dervish. Fuller manipulated the fabric by using sticks. Out gay puppeteer Basil Twist describes the impact Fuller had on him and his work. Like Fuller, he uses both silks and electric light as performance materials that “makes the air and light visible.” An example from a performance of his “Titon et L’Aurore” demonstrates this.
The dancer’s performances were lauded — and imitated. Fuller has considerable trouble trying to keep others from adopting her approach, even taking cases to court in an effort to copyright her work. But her theatrical success did enable her to perform in the Folies Bergère, and she helped legitimize dance as an art form. Seeing Shakira perform an homage to Fuller on stage is a breathtaking highlight of “Obsessed with Light.”
After meeting with Thomas Edison, Fuller saw the way light was used in an X-ray, and that prompted her to incorporate light in her dances. Projecting light and color onto the fabric enhanced the ethereal quality of Fuller’s fluid movement. Moreover, when she met with Marie Curie, Fuller used radium and added phosphorescent salts in her dress to have her garments glow. (Yes, she later would suffer from cancer and start losing her sight.)
“Obsessed with Light” appreciates Fuller by showing how dancers, artists, and fashion designers have upheld her performance style and used fabric, movement, and light. There are several scenes featuring Jody Sperling, who is choreographing a new dance piece that she says is a “conversation with Loie Fuller," and then there is out theater producer Jordan Roth, who shows off the fabulous, Fuller-inspired outfit he wore at the Met Gala one year.
The best interviewee in the film is fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, the creative director at Dior, who expresses what Fuller achieved. She acknowledges how Fuller used color as well as the dimensions of her dress to emphasize the kinetic aspect of her dance and movement. As a series of Chiuri’s eye-popping dresses are showcased in the film, one can see how the designer took Fuller’s approach to heart. Chiuri further explains that Fuller defined beauty not by her body, which some folks have called “dumpy,” but through its expression. Moreover, the dancer “defined herself on her own terms,” which was inspiring to other women in late 19th and early 20th century.
Chiuri also explains that Fuller’s use of fabric allowed her body to move freely, and that quality was critical for other dancers, including Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham. An episode about Fuller’s meeting with Isadora Duncan features one of the film’s few juicy moments. Fuller does not think much of Duncan at first, but then she sees her dance and is wowed. However, Duncan’s response when asked about Fuller is what really makes their interaction interesting. In contrast, a segment late in the film has out gay choreographer Bill T. Jones wishing he could have met Fuller, as he has questions for her.
“Obsessed with Light” also features other episodes, such as Fuller’s friendship with painter Auguste Rodin, and contemporary artist Marcel Dzama explaining how he was drawn to her work and tries to capture Fuller’s sense of movement in his art.
Ultimately, filmmakers Krayenbühl and Oelbaum take a mosaic approach to their subject and create a larger portrait of Fuller through each interview or film clip. As a result, “Obsessed with Light” should generate or renew interest in the dancer and her acolytes.
The Quad Cinema will host post-screening Q&As with Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum and special guests on December 6 and December 7 after the 7:30 pm shows and on December 8 after the 3:00 pm show. For more information, visit https://quadcinema.com/film/obsessed-with-light/
“Obsessed with Light” | Directed by Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum | Opening December 6 at the Quad Cinema | Distributed by Film Movement
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