Pas De Trois1975

"The question of whether certain kinds of film formalism tend to be sexually reactionary is encapsulated in this little triptych. Each of the three sections includes three kinds of information. In the first section, we see single frames of strippers dancing; single fram eclusters of clear red, then later, clear yellow; and single frame clusters of what looks to be a light source. The imagery and clear colors mix retinally, and with the flickering light source, makes this section reminiscent of looking into a movie projector. In the second section we see live action footage of a little girl presumably competing in a twirling contest. This footage regularly dissolves into and out of light blue which itself is punctuated each time, between fade in and fade out, by a singel frame of what looks like a movie screen. Finally, in the third section, red-toned footage of three strippers, recorded in slightly fast motion, alternates with eight-frame passages of lime green leader and, in four instances, with shots of several fish in a tank remioniscent of the fish and tank in the final section of SURFACE TENSION. Together, the three sections suggest something of film's history (the single frames of the stripper and the flicker during hte first section are suggestive of Muybridge and the earliest film showings), as well as the three mechanical components of the film apparatus–projector, screen, film (the fish are in the water in the tank, as the imagery is 'in' the emulsion on the film)–and film's historical propensity to use the female figure (and the drama of its innocence and sexuality) as the focus of the viewer's gaze. PAS DE TROIS is reminiscent of Paul Sharits' single-frame films, of Robert Huot's STRIP, and of some of Frampton's earliest film work."–Scott MacDonald