After a week showing his feature films (all but
The Baby of Mâcon (1993) and
The Falls (1980) in that room, at IUPUI, or at the Madame Walker Theatre Center, Peter Greenaway gives a talk about his films in an auditorium at Butler University. There, he trashed on "illustrated text" films like
The English Patient (1996), decrying adaptations in general (when questioned about
Prospero's Books (1991), he responded "Yes, but Shakespeare wrote plays, and plays were written to be performed." He was also asked about his influences, though despite flying over to France as a youth to see nouvelle vague films, he suggested he had none, and that all his story ideas ("My only ideas are sex and death," he admitted) came from his early twenties. He was questioned about
Stanley Kubrick, the Zantac commercials of
Brian Dennehy, and if they had any relation to
The Belly of an Architect (1987), and discussed his art exhibitions, his opera (featuring extensive male nudity, which he thinks will keep it from playing in America), and spoke a great deal about his eight-hour multimedia project, which he believes will be his last film, as well as his reactions to the cinema in general.
—Scott Hutchins <scottandrewh@home.com>