Outer Space

Peter Tscherkassky

Austria 1999

10'

A woman, terrorized by an invisible and aggressive force, is also exposed to the audience’s gaze, a prisoner in two senses. Outer Space agitates this construction, which is prototypical for gender hierarchies and classic cinema’s viewing regime, and allows the protagonist to turn them upside down. (…) Flickering images, everything crashes, explodes; perforations and the soundtrack are engaged in a violent struggle. (…) The story ends in the woman’s resistant gaze.