#566: ROEG, Nicolas: Insignificance (1985)
ROEG, Nicolas (United Kingdom)
Other Roeg films in the Collection:
#10: Walkabout (1971)
#745: Don't Look Now (1973)
#304: The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)
#303: Bad Timing (1980)
The Film
On August 6, 1945 — 8:15 AM local time — an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. It took 44.4 seconds to fall from the aircraft and detonated about 1,900 feet above the city.
The Booklet
Insignificance [1985]
Spine #566
Blu-ray
Blu-ray
Four unnamed people who look and sound a lot like Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, and Joseph McCarthy converge in one New York City hotel room in this compelling and visually inventive adaptation of Terry Johnson's play, from director Nicolas Roeg. With a combination of whimsy and dread, Roeg creates a fun-house-mirror image of fifties America in order to reflect on the nature of celebrity and lingering cold-war nuclear nightmares. Insignificance is a delirious, intelligent drama, featuring magnetic performances by Michael Emil as the Professor, Theresa Russell as the Actress, Gary Busey as the Ballplayer, and Tony Curtis as the Senator.
108 minutes
Color
Color
Monaural
1:78:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2011
Director/Writer
Original play by Terry Johnson. Screenplay by Johnson and Nicolas Roeg.
Roeg was 57 when he directed Insignificance.
Other Roeg films in the Collection:
#10: Walkabout (1971)
#745: Don't Look Now (1973)
#304: The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)
#303: Bad Timing (1980)
The Film
On August 6, 1945 — 8:15 AM local time — an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. It took 44.4 seconds to fall from the aircraft and detonated about 1,900 feet above the city.
In this film — which avoids using any real names — the Professor (Michael Emil) is haunted by his role in the development of the atomic bomb.
In real life, Albert Einstein was aware that the Germans were trying to develop a nuclear weapon, and therefore — along with several other scientists — wrote a letter to President Roosevelt, urging him to take action and get the US to develop its own nuclear program. This led to the Manhattan Project and the rush to make an atomic bomb.
In 1954 — the year covered by the events in Insignificance — Einstein said to his friend Linus Pauling:
“I made one great mistake in my life — when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification — the danger that the Germans would make them ...”
Roeg clearly shows us the Professor’s anguish about the matter. Watches near or at 8:15 are present throughout the film. The very first shot of the film shows a match floating in the darkness; a magnificent shot!
**
The Actress (Theresa Russell) [Marilyn Monroe] was at the height of her fame in 1954. She might have been thought of as a sex symbol by several generations of boys, men and perhaps women, as well — but she had always taken acting seriously, and strived to get good parts in which she could display her talent, as well as her body.
The scene where she uses her toy props to show the Professor that she really does understand the Theory of Relativitiy is terrific!
Billy Wilder’s 1954 film, The Seven Year Itch, was filmed in Hollywood — but they did go to New York City to film the famous scene on the subway grate — at the Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theater at 586 Lexington Avenue, on September 14th.
And Monroe’s husband The Ballplayer (Gary Busey) [Joe DiMaggio] was indeed present at the shoot, and was indeed enraged by the all hooting and hollering of the large crowd gathered to watch.
Albert Einstein was never called before the HUAC committee; but Monroe’s next husband — Arthur Miller — was!
**
The Senator (Tony Curtis) is, of course, the slimy Joseph McCarthy. Curtis inhabits the role; you can almost feel the droplets of sweat which cover his whole face; you can almost taste the Jack Daniels he carries in his pocket. You can almost feel his shame and guilt when he tries to make it with a prostitute.
McCarthy’s interaction with the three other main characters is also beautifully portrayed. He would love to have sex with the Actress — and almost does (in exchange for the Professor’s papers; one sexual favor, the Actress sighs) — and punches her in the stomach for her troubles ...
He is ready to rumble with the Ballplayer until the Professor intervenes.
And he is delighted at the prospect of making the Professor’s life as miserable as possible. That’s what he did for a living.
**
Nicolas Roeg was a cinematographer before he became a director. He got a co-directing credit on Performance (1970) and shot his own directorial debut, Walkabout (1971) [Spine #10] — a brilliant film, as are the other three Roeg films in the Collection ...
The final six minutes of this film contain some of the finest examples of direction, cinematography, and editing in cinema history.
Recall the first moments of the film, as the credit sequence ends.
We hear ticking, as we see a ghostly watch floating in the blackness. Roeg then explodes the scene into the Monroe subway grate scene ...
Now — in the film’s final moments — The Professor is holding his clock — reading 8:15 — in his left hand; and his hotel key in his right. (He holds the “key.”) Roeg adds the sound of a roaring airplane.
The Actress is leaving. Roeg freezes her; she moves in ultra-slow motion. Cut to the Professor, closing his eyes to the pain. Cut to three shots of his papers floating in the air; in the third shot they are landing on the Japanese garden we have previously (briefly) seen ...
Cut to the Picasso painting ...
... which hung above the hotel room bed. It is disassembled and covered with ashes.
The Actress is still moving in ultra-slow motion, with white light beginning to flash through the windows.
Roeg (and his editor, Tony Lawson) then put together a montage for the ages.
In 66 cuts, we experience the horror of the holocaust of the bombing of Hiroshima. Then the Actress raises her sunglasses to say goodbye; the big-band music returns, and Roeg freezes just her hand behind the door as the end credits roll.
Insignificant, perhaps. All these characters are gone now, returned to dust. In real life, Tony Curtis and Nicolas Roeg have also left us.
But — thank God — their significant contribution to the art of cinema will live on forever.
Nothing insignificant about that.
Nothing insignificant about that.
Film Rating (0-60):
56
The ExtrasThe Booklet
Twenty-eight page booklet featuring an essay, Stargazing by Chuck Stephens.
Brilliant essay. Man, can he write:
“A small, seemingly insignificant touch, (Roeg’s) fleeting appearance (in the dress scene), but in the bent and bedazzling space-time continuum of Roeg’s midcareer, Möbius-strip masterpiece Insignificance, nothing is insignificant. And all things are relative ... and intimately related: the golden age of the candy-colored Hollywood comedy, the grim realities of life (and cinema) under Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher’s new world order, delightful derrieres, distant constellations, baseball legends, legendary bastards, monstrous memories and magical might-have-beens — all the twinkling lights of the twentieth century’s cultural cosmos gathered together, if only for an evening, or the duration of a movie, in a single sphere of light.”
Relatively Speaking: Johnson and Roeg on Insignificance.
Credit to a playwright who knows how to adapt his work for the screen!
Commentary
None
Video interview
Commentary
None
Video interview
With Roeg, Thomas and editor Lawson.
Highly enlightening.
Documentary
Documentary
Making Insignificance, a short documentary shot in the set of the film.
Except they spelled Gary’s name wrong — “Bussey.” !!
Theatrical trailer
Theatrical trailer
A really excellent trailer for this unusual film.
Extras Rating (0-40):
Extras Rating (0-40):
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