The Total Family

The Total Family

1981 · 86 min · ★ 9.0

Baron Childerich III of Bartenbruch considers himself to be a descendant of the Merovingian dynasty and he has drawn up a chart of marriages and adoptions which show that he is his own father, grandfather, father-in-law, and son-in-law. He aims at achieving the "total family" based on one man. He persuades his french relative, Pippin, to help him. But the latter lets him down and breaks up the family... Among those who belong to the (surrounding) world of the Baron are Dr. Döblinger, a writer, who has formed a band of muggers and Professor Horn, a psychiatrist, who quiets his patients by leading them on nose rings and beating them up... Family satire with numerous personal and literary allusions based on the novel of the Austrian writer, Heimito von Doderer.

Directed by Ernst Schmidt Jr. · Written by Günther Janicek

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ViennaFilm 1896-1976ViennaFilm 1896-1976 · 1977
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This film is a kind of anthology about Vienna, from the invention of film to the present day. The aim is to break down the usual clichéd "image of Vienna" such as that found in the traditional "Vienna Film" by juxtaposing documentary footage, newly shot material and subjective sequences created by various artists. Individual, self-contained sections of the film gain new meaning within the context of historical material. Familiar sites appear estranged when edited together with historical scenes. Other scenes appear like a persiflage or satirical. The film does not incorporate any commentary whatsoever. It is a collage of diverse materials aimed at conveying a distanced image of Vienna to the viewer
NN · 1978
N
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Recorded during a presentation of the "Performance Art Festival" in the Modern Art Galerie, Vienna. The presentation was officially put to an end by the police because of the infernal sound made by the accompanying noise orchestra. In this film short shots have been "mounted" in the camera. The film material is shown twice, whereas the sound is composed over the entire length of the film (out of elements of the real sound from the performance). (E.S.jr.)
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A guy having sex with a woman on a rooftop – just to get her coffee-machine.
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‘Kunst & Revolution is a documentation on the famous action known as the “filthy uni mess”, which led to a jury court trial. I only had a few metres of film with me and they were quickly spent, but still the film gives one a rough impression of the events. As a whole mythology quickly arose around the event, I altered the material to counteract this effect (through repetition, and adding other material, for instance from a film about keeping dogs, and my own leftover footage from the Muehl action number 54 ‘Im Freudenauer Wasser’).’ In film 16 of his anthology Ernst Schmidt Jr. documented the actions of Günter Brus, Otto Muehl, Peter Weibel and Oswald Wiener.
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StartStart · 1973
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From START to the end, from the film title to the END title. The title initiates its repetition in the black-and-white image: the banner START flutters in the wind, presumably above the starting point of a race. We are in the middle of the film, which will end four seconds later; at the same time, the banner is another film title, even with the signature of a production company, as in mainstream cinema – "CAROP AUTOVERLEIH", as if this car rental named CAROP were a cinema corporation or (film) distributor. After a wild pan, the "Verleih" (distributor) presents the action: a motorcyclist races through the image of an enduro race. The film is less enduring, but it has shown everything it can anyway. (The enduro race in Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising is much more boring.) (Drehli Robnik)
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In this film the goal of destroying film semantics has been consistently followed though. Part of the film is composed of a seemingly collision of picture and sound. Whilst filming, the colors called out in the sound were really filmed. Because of the "mistakes" made (unfocusing, copying process, color temperature) the colors in the final printing were wrong. The audience is then confronted with these discrepancies. (E.S.jr.)
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1974
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