FILM

Inspired by Simone De Beauvoir’s writings, Stephanie Beroes’s film Recital addresses the state of ‘women in love’, a situation fraught less with ecstasy than with risk and pain. Each section involves a woman, situated in some external location, reading a letter or other text. The soundtrack is composed entirely of women’s words — her own as well as those of Carolee Schneemann, Casey Miller and Kathleen Frazier. Through the distanced juxtaposition of words and image, and the progression of ideas within the texts themselves, Beroes accomplishes a true recital, that is, a re-reading of past experiences given shape over time.