The Last Surrealist Film plus Film Stills: 1) L’amour Fou 2) Pierre Villon meets Andre Breton on the clifftops of Cape Kidnappers

Abstract

“The Last Surrealist was inspired by the real life Hawke’s Bay personality, William Peter Trapp, a French immigrant and refugee from the Nazis, and his alter ego Pierre Villon, who in every respect was a Surrealist. I wanted to convey the essence of this world-view, a European aesthetic in the context of the New Zealand landscape. Made with a wonderful, fully committed team the film was ambitious from the start. The guiding principle was to capture that ‘beauty’ of the transfixed moment, still frames from the film The Last Surrealist. Working with cinematographer Rewa Harre on this film was one of the profound pleasures of my life. There were moments when we were both in hysterics at the sheer beauty of the shots he was framing. He brought to this film an incredible formal classicism, and yet a tremendous feeling for the landscape, the drama and the poetry. The characters themselves fit into the landscape in an almost mythic sense. The main actor’s body language and expression will always fill me with delight, as well as a certain sadness.