Synopsis
The making of the “centerfold”, the poster of a naked woman in the center of a Playboy magazine, is the object of all the attention. In the magazine’s Munich studios, Harun Farocki films the creation of this photograph for four days, from the making of the sets to the obtaining of a convincing shot. This work mobilizes workers, stage managers, decorators, prop makers, make-up artists, models, photographers… The naked body of the woman is the blinding center of this commercial image’s production.
A word from Tënk
Sociology is a science of relationships, the study of society. What if documentary filmmakers were sociologists? Throughout his work, Harun Farocki makes a radical critique of the power of fascination of images. Here he describes part of the process of making an image. Image that we will not see, it is the elaboration that counts. He leaves the spectator - that he does not suppose ignorant - free to contemplate this ceremony. It would be funny if I proposed a commentary. A humorous film in the end.
Pierre Oscar Lévy
Filmmaker
