Valie Export Movies
Valie Export is internationally recognized for her avant-garde films, videos, photographs and performance art. She is also a noted writer on contemporary art history and feminist theory. In much of her work, Export attempts to bring out the innermost thoughts and feelings of women--psychic states that have little to do with the ways in which they were socialized. In 1967 she began a series of experimental films centered around feminist issues. These films include Remote. . . Remote (1973), a film about female self-mutilation. She released her first feature film Unischtbare Gegner in 1976, a highly regarded prize-winning film about women in society. Export is also noted for making films in widely varying formats including feature film, experimental short, documentary, and narrative film. Most of her work, while abstract, is not inaccessible to mainstream audiences. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
In this feature-length anthology of short films, seven women filmmakers from around the world interpret the seven "deadly sins" for a modern age. New Yorkers Bette Gordon and Maxi Cohen direct "Greed" and "Anger," respectively; Germans Helke Sander and Ulrike Ottinger take on "Gluttony" and "Pride"; Belgian director Chantal Akerman tackles "Sloth"; Austrian Valie Export composes "Lust"; and Laurence Gavron of France directs "Envy." ~ Sarah Welsh, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyne Didi, Gabriela Herz, (more)
- 1984
Part thriller and part experimental fantasy, this first feature-length film by director Waltraud Hollinger (aka Valie Export) concerns Judith (Adelheid Arndt), a journalist who becomes embroiled in a murder case through one of her two current lovers. When Judith is sent to investigate the peep-show business in Hamburg, she runs into the psychiatrist Dr. Alphons Schlogel (Rudiger Vogler), a former boyfriend who is now a part of a lucrative but illicit gun-running operation. Even though she is already involved with another married psychiatrist, Judith renews her relationship with Alphons. There may be a reason for these two psychiatrists in her life -- Judith has a tendency to garble fantasy and reality together, a trait that could leave the audience slightly confused as well. When Alphons' partner is murdered, Judith is drawn into the case and may be facing more than she can handle.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adelheid Arndt
- 1980
The relationship between four women and one man is the focus of this feminist drama. Franz (Klaus Wildbolz) is unusual for a journalist, in that he is fairly laid back and pleasant; but he does have a tendency to complain. His life is more complex than normal because of his liaisons with his wife Anna (Susanne Widl), Petra, a nurse (Christiane von Aster), Elizabeth, a barmaid (Renee Felden), and a teacher named Gertrud (Maria Martina). Two of these women are expecting a child by Franz, while all of them cater to his needs and tolerate his foibles. But Franz is heading for a wake-up call as the women slowly begin to expect more from life and from him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renee Felden, Maria Martina, (more)
- 1977
This 1978 production of Unsichtbare Gegner bears no relationship with the 1933 thriller having the same name. Instead, it is a highly symbolic and experimental work by the Austrian avant-garde director Valerie Export. The faint storyline concerns the effects of a mysterious ray being beamed from outer space by beings known as the Hyksos, who are using it to direct the activities of people in order to take over the world. A photographer and her boyfriend are apparently the only ones in the city of Vienna who notice that something is not quite right. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susanne Widl, Peter Weibel, (more)
