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Rise! For the day is passing (Adelaide Ann Procter 1825-1864)/Trail all your pikes (Anne Finch 1660-1720)/Reply to comrade Kuo Mo-Jo: So many deeds(Mao Tse Tung 1963)/The cuckoo I asked(Anna Akhmotova 1919)/Last rose (Anna Akhmotova 1962). Swann takes this poetry as a basis for a video which, despite the limited length, is divided into no less than ten sections plus an epilogue. On the one hand, the titles have to do with sleep (from disturbed anaesthesia to a refreshing breakfast after waking up), and on the other hand with all stages offered by the conflict theory (dreams of old glory, a military expedition, defeat and imprisonment, escape, moral confusion, renewed strife and - perhaps - triumph). The central person who connects both story lines is a woman, dressed in chain mail like the soldiers in Eisenstein’s 'Alexander Nevsky'. This change to Russian romanticism appears to be a programmatic choice. Swann's conclusion is actually rather domestic: in soft focus, the woman takes out a fiercely disputed chest and it proves not to be a weapon arsenal, but a treasure house of the good - female? - things of life.
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Erik Daams
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Assistant director: George Saxon, Camera: George Saxon, Cordelia Swann, Music: Alanna O'Kelly, Stuart Jones, Voices: Tilda Swinton, Tatiana Tretiakova, Costumes: Jasmine Nancholas, With: Tilda Swinton, Brenda Swann, Production assistant: David Mackenzie, Production: London Video Access, Channel Four TV
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