Bal (1981)

Overview

Bal is a pensive self-portrait by Dominique Willoughby and his most dazzling film. His face in extreme close-up is slightly anamorphosised. This is a tête-a-tête between Dominique Willoughby's face and his camera lens whose position the viewer assumes, and during which his eyes follow the movements of his own face. The movements of the face are short and sampled, multiplied and super-imposed filling the screen with a multitude of faces, with abrupt movements, turning, and yet nonetheless connected. But the jolting of the faces has a reflex brutality, as if they were activated by a mechanical force.