Cactus
Clip 1: ‘It has to be removed’
3 min 0 sec
Taken from the feature Cactus (1986)
Original title classification M – this clip chosen to be PG
Availability of the complete title
Curator’s clip description
After she recovers from the car accident, an eye specialist tells Colo (Isabelle Huppert) that her left eye must be surgically removed if she is to retain any sight. She refuses the choice. At home, she contemplates the horror of losing an eye.
Curator’s notes
A large part of the film’s success, and its appeal, is built on Isabelle Huppert’s face, which Cox shows in a series of breathtakingly beautiful close-ups. The beauty of Huppert’s eyes accentuates the dilemma for the audience, and Cox underlines that direct emotional connection by having her stare directly at us – as in the final moments of this scene, which is followed by a cross fade to a field of sunflowers. The flowers are probably a reference to one of Cox’s most enduring inspirations – the painting of Vincent Van Gogh, about whom he has also a made a film (Vincent, 1987). There’s a kind of visual rhyme being made between Huppert’s eyes – an inspiration to many film-makers – and the heads of sunflowers, which resemble open eyes – an inspiration to Van Gogh.
Paul Byrnes, curator
