Week 36 – The Belly of an Architect (1987)

• The Belly of an Architect
• Released: 10/16/1987 (UK)
• Starring: Brian Dennehy, Chloe Webb, Lambert Wilson, Sergio Fantoni, Stefnia Casini
• Director: Peter Greenaway
• IMDB Page

Welcome back to another week of 52 Films, 52 Portraits! It’s Week 36 here, and we are officially in the final 3rd of the project! This week’s film was chosen by one of our closest family friends, Ron! Ron is an author, who lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Sondra.

Ron with his wife, Sondra, and my aunt, Mary Beth! Both of whom will be featured on this blog in the future!

Ron told me that he has always been a big fan of film, but finds it to be a much more exhausting past-time now than it was in the past. He said that when the only option to watch a film at home was to see it at a specific time when it ran on television, it was more like an event. Now, there are so many options at the viewer’s fingertips – Netflix, Hulu, On Demand, etc. – that it becomes more of a chore to even pick what you want to watch to begin with. He also said that, to him, this project is kind of going against that idea, because I have committed myself to watching specific movies that I didn’t choose for myself.

Ron said that he likes films because the can transport the viewer into an entirely different realm. He said that it may even be the best form of media for this, aside from the novel, which requires you to create your own world as it is described to you. He also said that today’s forms of media are becoming more and more personal, with friends and family providing the entertainment we consume via Facebook, Snapchat, etc., and these don’t provide the same wide, creative experience that film can.

Ron told me that some of the movies that he grew up on – and that had a big effect on him from an early age – included Oklahoma, The Searchers and The Manster. He said that he watched all of these films over and over again in the 60s on 13 inch black and white TV. When he was young, he also enjoyed the Sean Connery James Bond films, and even saw Dr. No when it was released in theaters. Additionally, he said that he remembers staying up until 2AM to watch Night of the Living Dead because it was the only time that it would ever come on television.

As he’s gotten older, Ron said that he has grown to love certain genres in particular. He often enjoys films in the Criterion Collection and was a big fan of 70s auteur films. He also admitted that he is often drawn to film that could only be described as “Incredibly Strange.” He said that he likes films where a director “pushes for an uncompromising vision.” He said that in the past, this may cause a film to earn an X rating (he named Taxi Driver and All That Jazz as films that either earned that rating or had to fight hard to avoid it at the time). Nowadays, he said, television shows can get away with more than films could in those days.

When I asked Ron what films he considered choosing for the project, he told me that Antonioni’s L’Avventura is probably his favorite film of all time. He said that the National Gallery in DC still shows it every few years or so, so he gets to see it on the big screen. He said that he decided not to choose it for the blog because “some people might mistake it for watching paint dry.” Still, it’s one of his favorites. He said that other films he may have considered, but may have equal paint-drying qualities, were Pauline at the Beach and My Night at Maud’s. However, he warned the uninitiated against jumping into these, and advised that anyone interested should try a film by Claude Chabrol first.

Ron said that he chose Belly of an Architect because, well, “what’s not to like?” The story is hilarious, the acting is excellent, the cinematography is beautiful and the soundtrack is terrific. He said that he loves Peter Greenaway’s “twisted humor” and that all of the pieces may not add up to the perfect film, but it’s still one of his favorites.

Of all of the films in this project, I had the least knowledge about this one going into it. I don’t believe that I had ever even heard of The Belly of an Architect before Ron chose it. It was also the only film out of all 52 that I was unable to get on Blu Ray. I have seen Brian Dennehy in things before, and he did a really great job in the film, but that’s about as far as my familiarity with any elements of the film goes.

Overall, I’d say that I enjoyed the film. It wasn’t my favorite ever, but I did enjoy it. It definitely had a certain dark humor and there was a lot going on in the way that the film was shot that was very interesting. I kept finding myself drawn to what was going on in the background of scenes just as much as the forefront.

Also, as Ron mentioned, I thought that the film had a great soundtrack by Wim Mertens and a lot of the cinematography was really fantastic. I really enjoyed those aspects of the film.

That’s it for this week! Sorry for the brief post, it’s a busy week! But thanks so much for joining me once again! Please comment, like, follow, etc. below and don’t forget to come back next week for a very different kind of comedy!

Next Week: Legally Blonde