Spotlight - 14.2019

46 Spotlight 14/2019

Fotos: UPI Media; pr; © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2018 & The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, courtesy Kasmin Gallery, New York; photo: Diego Flores

ARTS

Women artists have often suffered from working in the shadow

of a powerful man. Married to Jackson Pollock, the 20th-century

abstract expressionist Lee Krasner faced just such difficulties. In

fact, the major retrospective of her work exhibited at Frankfurt’s

Schirn Kunsthalle (until 12 January) marks the first time her

art has been shown in Europe for more than 50 years. Krasner

refused to be tied down to one style. Some see this as a female

quality: the ability to reinvent oneself. However, it also made her

difficult to market. Seen now at a distance, the variety and range

of her work is its strength. From intimate self-portraits to large

colour compositions, her work

offers something for every-

admiration body. Find out more at schirn.de

[)ÄdmE(reIS&n]

, Bewunderung

drenched [drentSt]

, hier: erfüllt

inevitable [In(evItEb&l]

, unvermeidlich

remote [ri(mEUt]

, entfernt, abgelegen

though [DEU]

, allerdings

Our fascination with lighthouses as places where man meets

the sea has been documented by film-makers as varied in style

as Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island), Lars von Trier (Breaking the

Waves) and Derek Cianfrance (The Light Between Oceans). They

have used lighthouses as a metaphor for physical and emotional

isolation. What, though, does it feel like to be stuck in the middle

of a stormy sea, confronted not only by yourself, but also by a

strange version of your older self?

This is the question explored by The Lighthouse, a remarkable

film described by some critics as one of the best of 2019. Willem

Dafoe and Robert Pattinson play Tom Wake and Ephraim Wins-

low — an older lighthouse keeper and his younger colleague

— who are thrown together for four weeks of duty in remote,

19th-century Maine. The older man is experienced and proud,

and constantly reminding his young colleague of his position.

Both men have secrets, and conflict is inevitable.

The Lighthouse is presented by director and co-writer Robert

Eggers in a way that feels as intimate and claustrophobic as the-

atre, and as ghostly and unexpected as a supernatural thriller.

Filmed in black and white, the story has a sense of inevitable

tragedy and leaves us drenched in both fear and admiration.

Starts 28 November.

FILM PREVIEW | DRAMA

ARTS

Seas, secrets

and surprises

In dieser Ausgabe wartet ein Leuchtturm-Drama auf Sie,

eine politische Intrige und das Werk einer amerikanischen

Künstlerin. Von EVE LUCAS

MEDIUM

FILM PREVIEW | THRILLER

British government employees with

access to classified material must sign

the Official Secrets Act. Katharine Gun, a

translator at GCHQ (Government Com-

munications Headquarters), was one such

employee. Her decision to leak an e-mail

on the tactical importance of winning

over African states, whose votes were

needed for UN approval of the 2003

invasion of Iraq, was ruled to be a security breach. In Official

Secrets, Keira Knightley plays Gun, a woman who became a

whistle-blower almost by accident. She was not looking for se-

cret material. It found her, and she found her conscience. Some

cinemagoers will find this approach simplistic, but Knightley’s

interpretation of an ordinary woman under extraordinary pres-

sure shows her talent as a character actress. Starts 21 November.

approach [E(prEUtS]

, Vorgehensweise

approval [E(pru:v&l]

, Zustimmung, Einver-

ständnis

breach [bri:tS]

, Verstoß, Verletzung

conscience [(kQnS&ns]

, Gewissen

leak [li:k]

, hier: verbreiten

pressure [(preSE]

, Druck

EXHIBITION | PAINTING

reinvent oneself [)ri:In(vent wVnself]

, sich neu erfinden

Willem Dafoe

and Robert

Pattinson in

The Lighthouse