Director: Jackie Raynal
Year Released: 1968
Rating: 1.0
Strangely acclaimed experimental film by Nouvelle Vague participant Raynal shows her eating, standing, staring at the camera, naked and in a state of discomfort and sometimes recording street scenes in Barcelona - the title translates to "twice," and yes, some of the 'actions' are performed more than once. None of the pieces seem to especially 'flow' together and the repetition produces little appreciable intellectual or emotional effect, making it come across as a film-school thesis project, although I suppose its defenders consider it a 'time and place' piece, coinciding with a period of intense unrest in France (the student protests and strikes brought the country to a halt). Coincidentally, I watched this the same night I watched Barbara Rubin's little-seen, notorious and very colorful Christmas on Earth, an exemplary experiment that contains the full-spectrum of sexual behavior, accompanied by expertly-placed rock songs (starting perfectly with The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night"). The participants of Rubin's edgy film are covered in paint and costume pieces and simulating sensual ecstasy; it's a daring celebration (pre-AIDS) of orgiastic free-love and a fitting companion piece to Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures (which made its debut in 1963). Rubin's only film is a true piece of feminist film history; Raynal's film is mostly her noodling around with a camera.
