Bonus Edition: Dr. Caligari (Stephen Sayadian, 1989) Q and A with Daniel Bird
Digby chews the fat with pre-eminent visiting scholar Daniel Bird about fleshy cinema, Walerian Borowczyk and Andrzej Żuławski.
Visiting scholar Daniel Bird corresponded with Digby Houghton via email about his upcoming screening, in collaboration with Cine-Club and The Ledatape Organisation, of Stephen Sayadian’s Dr. Caligari at Thornbury Picture House this Sunday March 10 @ 2pm.
Tix available here.
Hi Daniel, first I thought we could discuss why you chose this film?
Because it needs to be seen!
Could you talk about the cultural significance of this film and how you came to find out about it / why it may not have ever played in Australia?
Stephen Sayadian is one the great American stylists / surrealists / humorists. Until he makes another film, Dr Caligari is his masterpiece. I was sold on a still of Madeleine Reynal in a tight pink dress. The people who bankrolled the film didn’t know what the film was or how to distribute it – let alone get it into Australian cinemas. Better thirty-five years late than never, I guess.
What was Stephen Sayadian’s reputation like at the time? He was mostly notable for erotic films – what do you think is distinct about Dr. Caligari?
Before Dr Caligari, he made Nightdreams and Café Flesh, but while they’re sexually explicit they’re not erotic films in any conventional sense. After Café Flesh, Sayadian made some surreal and quite brilliant spreads for Hustler, worked on an aborted stage musical with Frank Zappa called Thing Fish and directed an off-Broadway play, Jackie Charge! He also directed a Wall of Voodoo clip, Do it Again featuring Brian Wilson. Aesthetically, Dr Caligari builds on these. Apparently Wall of Voodoo were big in Australia, is this true?
How do you think Dr Caligari is different from its predecessor The Cabinet of Dr Caligari?
Dr Caligari has more to do with Nightdreams than it does with The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. The producer insisted Sayadian use the name Caligari as the film had gone into public domain. That said, there are similarities. The big difference is the sex, humour and, of course, sound. At heart, Sayadian is a freak in the Zappa sense, and this a freak film. Maybe the freak film.
On your illustrious bio it mentions that you were assistant to the director of Possession, Andrzej Zulawski. Tell me a bit about working with him – the film has recently received a sort of cult status amongst younger generations particularly with the 4k restoration rollout.
Andrzej invited me to watch him direct a film, then recommended me for a scholarship to study in Poland. Whenever a producer needed English subtitles, he asked me to work on them. I edited some of his scripts, and when producers tried to get him to direct again, I was cast in this role of assistant, which was completely absurd, but I was happy to play along with it. He was incredibly bright, extremely interesting, and very charismatic. Outside of work, he could be tricky, but during work few jobs have been more rewarding. He was a real director. He understood actors and how to frame them. There’s a lot to learn from his films, and not just Possession.
Could you talk about Walerian Borowczyk and your relationship with his filmography working in restoration. What got you interested in Borowczyk?
I manage Borowczyk’s author rights, and some of his commercial rights, through a non-profit association in Paris. Again, it’s one of those things that just happened. He’s my favourite filmmaker. I’m most keen on his shorts, like Renaissance and Angels’ Games, although I never get bored of his Dr Jekyll, particularly the last fifteen minutes. Formally, the most distinctive characteristic of his work is how he frames things. However, he has a very specific way of making sense of the world, particularly in terms of both sex and humour. His films aren’t sleazy. Quite the opposite, they’re incredibly pure.
You mentioned in a passing email that you were a part of the Arthur Machen society where Australian character actor Barry Humphries participated. Could you explain a bit more what the society entailed?
That was when I was a pretentious kid, as opposed to a pretentious adult. You’d send a postal order off and get a newsletter once a year. It was a sense of belonging, and I was thrilled to read that Barry Humphries was also a member. Friends of Arthur Machen is there to promote the writings of an amazing Welsh author. I first read The Great God Pan. His autobiographical work, Field of Dreams is also remarkable, but my absolute favourite is a short story titled The White People. I am sure Guillermo del Toro is a fan, and that it fed into Pan’s Labyrinth. Regarding Humphries, I’ve met a lot of Les Pattersons, and whenever I feel starstruck I simply channel Dame Edna.
What is your favourite Australian film? (You can’t say Picnic at Hanging Rock).
Bad Boy Bubby. I can't touch cling film without thinking of dead cats.
You can hear more from Daniel Bird and meet him this Sunday at Thornbury Picture House from 2pm!