Burning Palace (2009) by Mara Mattuschka and Chris Haring - Review

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by Mara Mattuschka and Chris Haring

grade: 8

Burning Palace by Mara Mattuschka and Chris Haring is the living, breathing image of the inner self of every human being, of their dreams, of their needs. A film that has a thousand interpretations and is characterised by an attentive, but also courageous and experimental direction. At the Viennale 2021.

Eros and Psyche

The human body as a prison. The human body as temporary home. The human body that denies itself, but which, at the same time, needs to find itself. The human body as a closed envelope that does nothing but make us feel constantly and inevitably lonely. An important study on the human body, on its need to unleash sexuality and its denial was carried out by filmmakers Mara Mattuschka and Chris Haring in their short film Burning Palace, made in 2009 and re-presented to the audience on the occasion of the Viennale 2021, as part of the retrospective dedicated to film historian Amos Vogel Film as a subversive Art.

Burning Palace – based on the play The Art of Seduction, staged by Chris Haring for the 2007 Biennale – is a visual and auditory experience. Burning Palace celebrates the human body, allows it to unleash its eroticism, despite being frightened by it. We find ourselves, then, in a theatre. From behind the curtain we see the shadows of five dancers intent on a dance that simulates sexual acts. Once backstage, however, we realise that the dancers do not even touch each other. They all live in the same hotel and, at night, are woken up by God Pan, who, in turn, awakens their sexual instincts. But will this really be such a liberating experience?

In Burning Palace, sexuality is considered as a primary need, but also as incredible suffering. A sexuality that is often rejected, driven away, that leads its protagonists into the deepest despair. The red of the environments indicates a burning passion, the distorted sounds – which often even make us think of David Lynch’s cinema – represent the controversial relationship with passion itself. The actors’ bodies writhe, observe one another, but, in the end, always remain alone. Grimaces appear on their faces, concealing deep pain. The camera of the two directors follows each of them and through zooms and wide-angle shots emphasises every feeling.

And so, also in Burning Palace Burning Palace we find some constants of Mara Mattuschka’s filmography, including, in addition to loneliness and sexuality, the oneiric and, last but not least, mythology (next to God Pan who, after waking up everyone, unleashes the inevitable, there are, in fact, also three mermaids whose song attracts every man). Everything is aleatory in Burning Palace. Even the hotel where the protagonists live, considered, in fact, as a temporary home, like the human body itself. What will remain for each of them after this sort of “waking dream”? The song Lonely (Akon, 2005), sung by one of the actors both at the opening and closing of the film, speaks for itself.

Burning Palace is all this and much more. Burning Palace is the living, breathing image of the inner self of every human being, of his dreams, of his needs. A film that has a thousand interpretations and is characterised by a careful, but also courageous and experimental direction. Images and sounds give life to something unique, to an artistic performance that perfectly renders all its complex essence on the big screen.