THE DANCE OF REALITY: Jodorowsky’s Magical Return to Childhood

In the mid-seventies Alejandro Jodorowsky and Michel Seydoux attempted to make a film version of Dune by Frank Herbert. Unfortunately, no one wanted to put up the appropriate amount of money for the project, which had been worked out in the smallest detail. After this incident, the director’s and the producer’s paths separated for more than twenty years. The Dance of Reality.

In 2012 the gentlemen met during the making of a documentary devoted to the work on Dune. Sparks flew again between the old friends. Seydoux decided to produce Jodorowsky’s new film, which broke his cinematographic silence after twenty-three years. La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality) is Jodorowsky’s return to his hometown of Tocopilla.

A visit to the Chilean town awakens memories of his father, his mother, and his childhood, which remains in the mind only in the form of images and scraps of dreams, stories, fears. Jodorowsky paints them onto film and creates a small masterpiece.

In the Chilean’s film we can still see the same artist who shook the world with his Fando y Lis, El Topo, The Holy Mountain. The surrealist (in the literal sense of the word, because Jodorowsky had contact with artists from Breton’s group) imagination still dominates the creator’s world. Yet something is changing. Jodorowsky is no longer aggressive, loud. He has left the times of the theatre of cruelty behind. La danza de la realidad / The Dance of Reality is a film full of nostalgia, thoroughly personal. Jodorowsky, like Kantor in The Dead Class, enters among his actors.

Entering the filmic reality he calmly explains what guided him at the moment of making a given decision (one of the main characters is the young Jodorowsky played by Jeremias Herskovits). Sometimes the director says absolutely nothing, he only looks, smiles gently, or embraces a frightened child. It turns out that the world of a small child is still deeply embedded in the heart and mind of a man who has passed eighty.

Tocopilla from Jodorowsky’s memories is a magical place. The memories have evolved under the pressure of time. Some of them have become more distinct, they began to dominate the space, while of others only a delicate trace remains. Jodorowsky clearly remembered that his mother wanted to be an opera singer, which is why her film counterpart communicates with her surroundings through arias.

His father was a communist, which is why he parades around town in an outfit tailored in the style of à la Stalin (until a certain point). These are examples of memories that dominate the space. Yet in La danza de la realidad there is a whole multitude of subtler references to the director’s life. It is a film almost overflowing with emotions, despite its comedic qualities (after all, Jodorowsky is an extremely funny and warm person) grabbing the viewer by the throat.

Not only the return of Michel Seydoux is symbolic. The role of Jodorowsky’s father is played by his son, Brontis. It was he who was meant to play the lead role in the unmade Dune. Brontis’s performance is excellent. Jodorowsky’s father is an eccentric, extremely complex character. In one moment he behaves like a complete madman, in another he seems to be an oasis of warmth, sensitivity, and love.

While watching Jodorowsky’s film I was constantly reminded of Schulz and his The Cinnamon Shops. There is something shared between these two visions. Adults look at the world of their childhood and use the language of art to present to the audience what has remained in their memory.

The mad father who is simultaneously a demiurge, the child lost and absorbing the wonders of the world, the taste of mystery and the magic of childhood – all these are common points. Schulz and Jodorowsky are also connected by decidedly above-average sensitivity and the ability to give plastic form to their dreams, imaginings, and memories. Chilean The Cinnamon Shops? Why not. Jodorowsky has returned in great style.