Shirley: Visions of Reality

Shirley is the story of an attractive, charismatic, committed, emancipated woman. Shirley is a woman in America in the 30s, 40s, 50s and early 60s. A woman who wants to help shape the course of history through her professional and socio-political commitment. A woman who never sees the reality of the Depression years, the World War, the McCarthy era, racial conflicts and civil rights movements as a given, but as something that can be made and changed. A woman who, as an actress, is familiar with the staging of reality, who can question it and shape it herself, an actress who does not see her future and destiny in her individual career and as a star, but who strives for the social effectiveness of the theater as a member of a collective. A woman who does not identify with the prevailing role model of a wife and still wants to have a life partner. A woman who, in a moment of professional crisis, does not settle, does not compromise and yet is not afraid to take on jobs that ensure her survival. A woman who decides in favor of her partner in a private crisis and puts her professional interests on the back burner. A woman who reacts to political repression with anger but not despair and who has nothing but contempt for betrayal. "Thirteen of Edward Hopper's paintings, brought to life in the film, tell the story of a woman who, through her thoughts, feelings and reflections, gives us a glimpse into an era of American history." (Stadtkino Wien) "A single-image moving-image crossover that tells the fictional biography of the American actress Shirley, based on 13 paintings by Edward Hopper created between 1931 and 1965. Historical sound recordings at the beginning place each of the carefully designed tableaux vivants in a social, political and/or cultural context. The protagonist's inner monologue characterises her as an alert and engaged contemporary. And while we wait for the second in which the film image coincides with the pre-image, the content of the images runs parallel: the narrative concreteness of the film and the abstract magic of the painting'." (Viennale '13)