Desire And Decadence In The Film Bildnis Einer Trinkerin (1979) As An Aesthetic Modernist Reaction
Desire And Decadence In The Film Bildnis Einer Trinkerin (1979) As An Aesthetic Modernist Reaction

Summary/Abstract: Aesthetic modernism parts from modernization which is characterised by westernization and progress. Aesthetic modernism, which prefers stability over improvement, primitivity over contemporary, imagination over mind, play over work and subconscious over consciousness is, with the enforcement of modern process, the other modern choice alongside the dominant version of modernization. It is difficult to say that the aesthetic modernism, which is interpreted as the stakeholder theme of 19th century romanticism and 20th century avant-garde, is treated sufficiently cinema. In spite of this, the filmography of Ulrike Ottinger as a feminist and surrealist director, provides a spectrum through which viewing of aesthetic modernism in cinema is possible). Bildnis Einer Trinkerin, which the director shot in 1979 while in pursuit of visual pleasure in the company of satire and fantasy, conveys the arrival of a woman in Berlin with one-way ticket and no other motivation than to get drunk and how she realizes her desire. The obscurity of the past and future of the main character provides an absolute focus to the actions and appearances that takes place in films timeline. The character who does not speak throughout the film becomes a feminine dandy with her costume repertoire and a flâneuse with her movements that knows no limit. Through the behaviours of the main character who, together with the side characters almost becomes part of a travelling circus, the film assumes an identification as an aesthetic modernist reaction. In regards to how the film achieves this, within the scope of conceptual frame, desire and decadence comes to the fore. Desire, which is determinant with regards to triggering of the absurdity in the film, is in harmony with productivity and sociability that Deleuze and Guattari incorporated while conceptualizing the term. Whereas the outcomes of the act of drinking of the main character point to decadence. Decadence, which includes the denotations of addiction and downfall is in harmony with Paglia’s conceptualization of the term within the axis of art and sexuality. Aesthetic modernism’s opposition to bourgeois and capitalism, which are the common ground of desire and decadence, bestows the film with an exceptional importance.

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