Monument (1976)

Handling

The clacking of heels on the floor, to the rhythm of a measured walk, accompanies the movement of a camera that scrutinises a man in close up. Slowly, the camera turns around him, from his feet on the floor to the top of his head. The man doesn't move a muscle, with his arms lying straight by his side, as though he has become an object under a woman's eye, identifiable by the sound of her footsteps. The closeness of the camera fragments and fetishises the body. There are no wide shots at any point that might enable the man to be identified. The fragments glimpsed by the camera do not provide any identifying markers, rendering the overall view disproportionate. Like a "monument", the figure is presented to the audience.