Golem: The Spirit of Exile

In exile in Paris, Gitai began a trilogy of semi-surreal parables - Birth of the Golem (1990), Golem: The Spirit of Exile (1991), Golem: The Petrified Garden (1993) - which revolve around the legend of the golem, a creature made of clay. In Gitai's portrayal, the symbolically mutable golem becomes a metaphor for displacement, uprooting and endless wandering. Gitai created his first Golem film in close collaboration with Antonioni's regular cinematographer Tonino Guerra: the result was like a blueprint for the second film, which fused the legend with the Book of Ruth, which tells of conversion to the Jewish faith through marriage. Golem: The Spirit of Exile is perhaps the culmination of Gitai's attempts to deconstruct and reinterpret cinematic language to create a phantasmagorical landscape in which biblical myths merge with reality and reality is presented as myth-in-the-making. The film is also known for its dream-like guest appearances by famous personalities. (Jurij Meden)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum