MovieChat Forums > The Baby of Mâcon (1993) Discussion > Translate?

Translate?

posted 14 years ago by oneloveall
3 replies | jump to latest

I'm looking for the dialog spoken at the beginning and end by the tongue-wagging madman..very harsh way to start gleaming perspective since it was was so intentionally obscured...

Quite a mixed reaction to this one despite it being another bona fide Greenaway original (in and of itself something worth pursuing) but it might just be his most shallow film (pre-2000 semi-irrelevance) with a jaded script exploiting some provocative themes but never connecting on the levels outside of innovation and spectacle (despite priding himself on just how multi-layered he can be).

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] boojum-2 14 years ago

This is from memory, so it might not be word-perfect..."The crops are feeble, the animals barren, the orchards meagre, the water low. Men and women have ceased to play in bed. Copulation is a serious business, with little result but sickness and sadness."

The closing 'monologue' repeats the last two lines, though with the following variation: "Men and women have ceased to play in bed...AGAIN"

That opening and coda are burned in my memory, and as I remember the speaker looks like a 100-year-old Vincent Gallo as Beckett might have imagined him.

[–] scarletminded 11 years ago

100 year old Gallo...ha,ha!

Thanks for posting this. It makes sense to me now, because I read a synopsis where it said the city of Macon was barren and the people were experiencing famine but didn't know where they got that info. So, the Gallo guy is a crazy oracle.