"Dancefilm: Choreography and the Moving Image,"
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"The French filmmaker Pierre Yves Clouin takes this potential of the close-up to an extreme, maximizing the tendency toward obscurity to create his intimate signature aesthetic. Clouin's films are autoportraits of his body shot in close range and at strange angles, creating uncanny images to the sound of his physical exertions. In 'Kangaroo' (1998), fingers and then a hand emerge through what looks like buttock cheeks but could be knees. In 'The Little Big' (1999), a barely lit anthropomorphic shape moving slightly back and forth is discerned, again resembling buttocks, but a burst of light reveals it is a shot of his back, down his body from behind his head, his bare buttocks creating another similar shape below. In 'Workman' (1998), a shot of Clouin's back and thighs with his bottom raised high in the air focuses on the action of the muscles in his back and hip, the gluteus muscle pumping in and out as his knee bends and straightens. The crease in his hip begins to look like that between forearm and upper arm or any other corporeal joint. The resulting movements have an uncanny quality that departs from corporeal specificity, expressing the materiality of the human condition humorously through unlikely and undisclosed bodily sites."
- Erin Brannigan, "Dancefilm: Choreography and the Moving Image," Oxford Univesity Press, New York, 2011.
« Le réalisateur français Pierre Yves Clouin, en tendant au maximum vers l'obscurité pour créer son intime signature esthétique, pousse à l’extrême ce potentiel du plan rapproché. Les vidéos de Clouin sont des autoportraits de son propre corps filmé à bout portant et sous d’étranges angles qui créent des images déroutantes, avec pour fond sonore le bruit de son travail physique. Dans «'Kangaroo' » (1998), des doigts puis une main sortent de ce qui ressemble à des fesses mais pourraient aussi bien être des genoux. Dans 'The Little Big' (1999), on discerne une forme anthropomorphe à peine éclairée qui se balance doucement et qui ressemble de nouveau à des fesses ; mais un éclat de lumière révèle que c'est son dos, vu d’en haut juste derrière sa tête, alors que ses fesses nues forment la même figure en-dessous. Dans 'Workman' (1998), un plan de son dos et de ses cuisses, avec ses fesses tout en haut, se focalise sur l'action des muscles de son dos et de sa hanche. Le grand fessier se contracte et s’étire, alors que son genou se plie et se déplie. L’articulation de sa hanche commence alors à ressembler à celle de l’intérieur du coude ou à n'importe quelle autre articulation du corps. Les mouvements qui en résultent ont une qualité mystérieuse qui s'écarte de leur origine corporelle. Par l’exploration de champs non divulgués et improbables du corps, ils expriment avec humour la matérialité de la condition humaine. »
Erin Brannigan works in dance and film as a journalist, academic and curator. She was the founding Director of ReelDance International Dance on Screen Festival and has curated dance screen programs and exhibitions for Sydney Festival 2008, Melbourne International Arts Festival 2003 and international dance screen festivals. Erin writes on dance for the Australian arts newspaper, RealTime and lectures in the School of English, Media and Performing Arts at the University of New South Wales. Dancefilm: Choreography and the Moving Image is available from Oxford Univesity Press and at Amazon.com.