Project narrative

Confessions to the Mirror (2016) continues the intermedial method employed in Magic Mirror (2013) but takes it a step further. Cahun authored the two literary texts which form the respective basis for each film: Aveux non avenus (1930) for Magic Mirror and Confidences au Miroir (1945 –1954, published posthumously) for Confessions. The two films focus on different periods in Cahun and Moore’s life: Magic Mirror deals with their life prior to moving to Jersey in 1937, Confessions to the Mirror deals with their life, art and politics on Jersey.

However, the methodology employed in Confessions to the Mirror departs from Magic Mirror in a number of ways. The second film draws attention to the film-maker’s presence and the activity of tracing, copying through reperforming and rematerialising what is interpreted from the photographs. Confessions to the Mirror emphasises the collaborative element of both the photographs and the pair’s anti-Nazi propaganda, particularly in its selection from Cahun’s writing. The film also advances the transposition of the tableaux vivants from recalled still photographs into distilled moving images alongside Cahun’s voicedover text, by introducing colour, sometimes in combination with black and white.

The film-making process in Confessions is made apparent in the framing of the domestic space where filming takes place. For example, in the point-of-view angle of a drawing by Moore in prison, the image frames the hand of a surrogate Moore drawing her bed in the prison. This image “pretends” an imaginative reconstruction of Moore in her cell and, at the same time, shows that, in fact, the surrogate performer is also the film-maker tracing the drawing.

Because the tableaux vivants run together the restaging of photographs with illustrations of Cahun’s writing, the film is able to connect directly the staging of Cahun’s writing and the pair’s distribution of their propaganda with restagings of their sometimes esoteric artworks. This presents the non-hierarchical relationship between their artwork and their political work and life.

My methodology in the film seeks to emphasise the indeterminate nature of art and life that Cahun and Moore sought. An important element in the methodology is restricting myself only to tableaux that either restage Cahun’s photographs or visualise her text. I intentionally avoided other shots that might seek to assist “continuity” or “help the narrative”.

CreatorsPucill, S.
Description

Pucill’s research process involves exploring Cahun’s life in Jersey, together with that of her partner and collaborator Marcel Moore, particularly during the Nazi occupation, and studying Cahun’s posthumously published memoir, Confidences au Miroir, and the photographs Cahun and Moore made on the island. The structure and experimental language of Pucill’s film develops an intermedial form for contemplating artistic legacy and relating to historic works and archives, where celluloid and digital, stillness and movement, black and white and colour are points of intersection in an indeterminate narrative. In its particular use of tableaux vivants, Confessions to the Mirror provides a methodology to bring together the written text and still images of a historic artist, while at the same time bringing what is historical into the present through a material reinvention. The film provided new insights into the shifting critical context around Cahun and her collaboration with Moore whilst privileging both her artistic and political work, and proposing a novel form of collaboration between a historic and a contemporary artist.

Portfolio items
Primary outputConfessions To The Mirror
A Dialogue with Claude Cahun: Between Photography and Film in Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror
Garden Self Portraits after Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore
Encounters of the Space Between: a Collaboration with Claude Cahun in Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror
"Coming To Life" and Intermediality in the Tableaux Vivants of Magic Mirror and Confessions To The Mirror
The Provocation of Intermediality in the Tableaux Vivants in Magic Mirror and Confessions To The Mirror
Jersey Premiere Screening of Confessions to the Mirror
Frankfurt Screening: Confessions to the Mirror
Ottawa Art Gallery Screening: Confessions to the Mirror
Dortmund / Cologne Women's International Film Festival Official Selection: Confessions to the Mirror
UCL Art Museum Screening: Confessions To The Mirror + Q+A with Maria Walsh
Bagdam Lesbian Festival, Toulouse, France, screening of Confessions to the Mirror
BEEF Bristol Screening: Confessions To The Mirror and Q+A with Vicky Smith
White Cube, Bermondsey, London: Screening: Magic Mirror, Confessions To The Mirror
Cinematek, Oslo: Screening of Confessions To The Mirror + Q+A Greg Pope
National Portrait Gallery: Screening of Confessions To The Mirror
Creteil International Women's Film Festival Official Selection: Confessions To The Mirror
Alchemy Film Festival, Scotland Official Selection: Confessions To The Mirror (16mm, col, 68min, 2016)
BFI London Film Festival Premiere of Confessions To The Mirror (16mm col, 68min)
Televised documentary: Interview with extracts from Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror in the documentary 'Masquerades and Games: the Female Artists of Surrealism'
Year2016
PublisherUniversity of Westminster
Web address (URL)http://www.sarahpucill.co.uk/films/confessions-to-the-mirror/
KeywordsClaude Cahun
intermediality
queer
tableaux vivants
Surrealism feminism
CREAM Portfolio
FunderArts Council England
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.34737/qvq82

Portfolio items

Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2016. Confessions To The Mirror.

A Dialogue with Claude Cahun: Between Photography and Film in Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2021. A Dialogue with Claude Cahun: Between Photography and Film in Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror. in: Knowles, K. and Schmid, M. (ed.) Cinematic Intermediality: Theory and Practice Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press.

Garden Self Portraits after Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore
Pucill, S. 2019. Garden Self Portraits after Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore. Ottawa Municipal Art Gallery 14 Sep 2019 - 09 Feb 2020

Encounters of the Space Between: a Collaboration with Claude Cahun in Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2018. Encounters of the Space Between: a Collaboration with Claude Cahun in Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror. à la croisée des approches et des disciplines. Dialogue intercontinental. CNRS, Site Pouchet, 75017 Paris 25 - 26 Jun 2018

"Coming To Life" and Intermediality in the Tableaux Vivants of Magic Mirror and Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2018. "Coming To Life" and Intermediality in the Tableaux Vivants of Magic Mirror and Confessions To The Mirror. in: Smith, V. and Hamlyn, N. (ed.) Experimental and Expanded Animation: New Perspectives and Practices Switzerland Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 231-255

The Provocation of Intermediality in the Tableaux Vivants in Magic Mirror and Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2017. The Provocation of Intermediality in the Tableaux Vivants in Magic Mirror and Confessions To The Mirror. Pratschke, K. (ed.) Photofilm: Sampling the Archive. GUGA (Centre of Architecture), in co-operation with the Metropolitan University, Budapest, Hungary. 19 Sep - 19 Nov 2017

Jersey Premiere Screening of Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2020. Jersey Premiere Screening of Confessions to the Mirror. Jersey, Channel Islands May 2020

Frankfurt Screening: Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2020. Frankfurt Screening: Confessions to the Mirror. Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt 13 Feb - 24 May 2020

Ottawa Art Gallery Screening: Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2019. Ottawa Art Gallery Screening: Confessions to the Mirror. Ottawa Municipal Art Gallery 14 Sep 2019 - 09 Feb 2020

Dortmund / Cologne Women's International Film Festival Official Selection: Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2019. Dortmund / Cologne Women's International Film Festival Official Selection: Confessions to the Mirror. Dortmund, Germany 08 - 14 Apr 2019

UCL Art Museum Screening: Confessions To The Mirror + Q+A with Maria Walsh
Pucill, S. 2018. UCL Art Museum Screening: Confessions To The Mirror + Q+A with Maria Walsh. Bloomsbury Studio, UCL, London 22 May 2018

Bagdam Lesbian Festival, Toulouse, France, screening of Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2018. Bagdam Lesbian Festival, Toulouse, France, screening of Confessions to the Mirror . Toulouse, France 29 Mar - 14 Apr 2018

BEEF Bristol Screening: Confessions To The Mirror and Q+A with Vicky Smith
Pucill, S. 2018. BEEF Bristol Screening: Confessions To The Mirror and Q+A with Vicky Smith. Cube Microplex Cinema, Bristol 20 Feb 2018

White Cube, Bermondsey, London: Screening: Magic Mirror, Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2017. White Cube, Bermondsey, London: Screening: Magic Mirror, Confessions To The Mirror. 28 Jun - 17 Sep 2017

Cinematek, Oslo: Screening of Confessions To The Mirror + Q+A Greg Pope
Pucill, S. 2017. Cinematek, Oslo: Screening of Confessions To The Mirror + Q+A Greg Pope. Cinemateket, Oslo 2010 - 2019

National Portrait Gallery: Screening of Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2017. National Portrait Gallery: Screening of Confessions To The Mirror. National Portrait Gallery, London 09 Mar - 29 May 2017

Creteil International Women's Film Festival Official Selection: Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2017. Creteil International Women's Film Festival Official Selection: Confessions To The Mirror. Maison des Arts, Place Salvador Allende, Creteil, Paris 10 - 19 Mar 2017

Alchemy Film Festival, Scotland Official Selection: Confessions To The Mirror (16mm, col, 68min, 2016)
Pucill, S. 2017. Alchemy Film Festival, Scotland Official Selection: Confessions To The Mirror (16mm, col, 68min, 2016). Heart of Hawick, Scottish Borders 02 - 06 Mar 2017

BFI London Film Festival Premiere of Confessions To The Mirror (16mm col, 68min)
Pucill, S. 2016. BFI London Film Festival Premiere of Confessions To The Mirror (16mm col, 68min). BFI Southbank, London 05 - 16 Oct 2016

Televised documentary: Interview with extracts from Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror in the documentary 'Masquerades and Games: the Female Artists of Surrealism'
2020. Televised documentary: Interview with extracts from Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror in the documentary 'Masquerades and Games: the Female Artists of Surrealism'.

Related outputs

A Dialogue with Claude Cahun: Between Photography and Film in Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2021. A Dialogue with Claude Cahun: Between Photography and Film in Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror. in: Knowles, K. and Schmid, M. (ed.) Cinematic Intermediality: Theory and Practice Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press.

Confessions to the Mirror Staged in an Exhibition
Pucill, S. 2020. Confessions to the Mirror Staged in an Exhibition. Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, Netherlands 13 Sep 2020 - 10 Jan 2021

Jersey Premiere Screening of Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2020. Jersey Premiere Screening of Confessions to the Mirror. Jersey, Channel Islands May 2020

Frankfurt Screening: Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2020. Frankfurt Screening: Confessions to the Mirror. Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt 13 Feb - 24 May 2020

Ottawa Art Gallery Screening: Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2019. Ottawa Art Gallery Screening: Confessions to the Mirror. Ottawa Municipal Art Gallery 14 Sep 2019 - 09 Feb 2020

Garden Self Portraits after Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore
Pucill, S. 2019. Garden Self Portraits after Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore. Ottawa Municipal Art Gallery 14 Sep 2019 - 09 Feb 2020

Dortmund / Cologne Women's International Film Festival Official Selection: Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2019. Dortmund / Cologne Women's International Film Festival Official Selection: Confessions to the Mirror. Dortmund, Germany 08 - 14 Apr 2019

UCL Art Museum Screening: Confessions To The Mirror + Q+A with Maria Walsh
Pucill, S. 2018. UCL Art Museum Screening: Confessions To The Mirror + Q+A with Maria Walsh. Bloomsbury Studio, UCL, London 22 May 2018

Bagdam Lesbian Festival, Toulouse, France, screening of Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2018. Bagdam Lesbian Festival, Toulouse, France, screening of Confessions to the Mirror . Toulouse, France 29 Mar - 14 Apr 2018

BEEF Bristol Screening: Confessions To The Mirror and Q+A with Vicky Smith
Pucill, S. 2018. BEEF Bristol Screening: Confessions To The Mirror and Q+A with Vicky Smith. Cube Microplex Cinema, Bristol 20 Feb 2018

Encounters of the Space Between: a Collaboration with Claude Cahun in Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror
Pucill, S. 2018. Encounters of the Space Between: a Collaboration with Claude Cahun in Magic Mirror and Confessions to the Mirror. à la croisée des approches et des disciplines. Dialogue intercontinental. CNRS, Site Pouchet, 75017 Paris 25 - 26 Jun 2018

"Coming To Life" and Intermediality in the Tableaux Vivants of Magic Mirror and Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2018. "Coming To Life" and Intermediality in the Tableaux Vivants of Magic Mirror and Confessions To The Mirror. in: Smith, V. and Hamlyn, N. (ed.) Experimental and Expanded Animation: New Perspectives and Practices Switzerland Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 231-255

White Cube, Bermondsey, London: Screening: Magic Mirror, Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2017. White Cube, Bermondsey, London: Screening: Magic Mirror, Confessions To The Mirror. 28 Jun - 17 Sep 2017

Cinematek, Oslo: Screening of Confessions To The Mirror + Q+A Greg Pope
Pucill, S. 2017. Cinematek, Oslo: Screening of Confessions To The Mirror + Q+A Greg Pope. Cinemateket, Oslo 2010 - 2019

National Portrait Gallery: Screening of Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2017. National Portrait Gallery: Screening of Confessions To The Mirror. National Portrait Gallery, London 09 Mar - 29 May 2017

Creteil International Women's Film Festival Official Selection: Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2017. Creteil International Women's Film Festival Official Selection: Confessions To The Mirror. Maison des Arts, Place Salvador Allende, Creteil, Paris 10 - 19 Mar 2017

Alchemy Film Festival, Scotland Official Selection: Confessions To The Mirror (16mm, col, 68min, 2016)
Pucill, S. 2017. Alchemy Film Festival, Scotland Official Selection: Confessions To The Mirror (16mm, col, 68min, 2016). Heart of Hawick, Scottish Borders 02 - 06 Mar 2017

The Provocation of Intermediality in the Tableaux Vivants in Magic Mirror and Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2017. The Provocation of Intermediality in the Tableaux Vivants in Magic Mirror and Confessions To The Mirror. Pratschke, K. (ed.) Photofilm: Sampling the Archive. GUGA (Centre of Architecture), in co-operation with the Metropolitan University, Budapest, Hungary. 19 Sep - 19 Nov 2017

BFI London Film Festival Premiere of Confessions To The Mirror (16mm col, 68min)
Pucill, S. 2016. BFI London Film Festival Premiere of Confessions To The Mirror (16mm col, 68min). BFI Southbank, London 05 - 16 Oct 2016

Confessions To The Mirror
Pucill, S. 2016. Confessions To The Mirror.

Alchemy Moving Image Art Festival, Official Selection
Pucill, S. 2015. Alchemy Moving Image Art Festival, Official Selection. Haiwick, Scotland

Roundtable Discussion: The Women of the London Filmmaker’s Co-op
Danino, N., Matthee, J., Novaczek, R., Pucill, S. and Syed, A. 2015. Roundtable Discussion: The Women of the London Filmmaker’s Co-op. The Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ). 4 (1&2), pp. 164-179. https://doi.org/10.1386/miraj.4.1-2.164_1

Magic Mirror (exhibition)
Pucill, S. 2015. Magic Mirror (exhibition). The Nunnery Gallery, London 14 Apr - 14 Jun 2015

Magic Mirror
Pucill, S. 2013. Magic Mirror.

Phantom Rhapsody
Pucill, S. 2010. Phantom Rhapsody.

Fall in Frame
Pucill, S. 2009. Fall in Frame.

Taking My Skin
Pucill, S. 2007. Taking My Skin. Toronto, Canada 12 Apr 2007

Blind Light (2007)
Pucill, S. 2007. Blind Light (2007). 66 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003 01 Dec 2007

The 'Autoethnographic' in Chantal Akerman's News from Home, and an Analysis of Almost Out and Stages of Mourning
Pucill, S. 2006. The 'Autoethnographic' in Chantal Akerman's News from Home, and an Analysis of Almost Out and Stages of Mourning. in: Hatfield, J. (ed.) Experimental film and video: an anthology Eastleigh, UK John Libbey. pp. 83-92

Stages of Mourning
Pucill, S. 2006. Stages of Mourning. 66 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003 18 Nov 2006

The Question of the Subject and the Autobiographic in Artists Moving Image Practice
Pucill, S., Hatfield, J. and Reynolds, L. 2004. The Question of the Subject and the Autobiographic in Artists Moving Image Practice. Filmwaves Magazine. 24 (2), pp. 5-9.

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/portfolio/qvq82/confessions-to-the-mirror-16mm-col-68min-2016


Still from Confessions to the Mirror that re-stages one of Cahun’s still life photographs.A tableau vivant evoking an untitled work by Cahun
Still from Confessions to the Mirror that re-stages one of Cahun’s still life photographs.A tableau vivant evoking an untitled work by Cahun
Pucill restricts herself to tableaux vivants that either directly or indirectly reference either Claude Cahun’s photographs or her text
Pucill restricts herself to tableaux vivants that either directly or indirectly reference either Claude Cahun’s photographs or her text
Cahun and Moore were imprisoned during the German occupation of Jersey. This still from the film shows the process of literally tracing a drawing that Moore made whilst in her prison cell.  The paper is from the inside of a ciquarette packet which is here re-presented but copying the actual drawing made by Moore.  The ‘tracing’ process is revealed in the film, to reflexively anounce the filmmakers process of tracing the couples’ life journey
Cahun and Moore were imprisoned during the German occupation of Jersey. This still from the film shows the process of literally tracing a drawing that Moore made whilst in her prison cell. The paper is from the inside of a ciquarette packet which is here re-presented but copying the actual drawing made by Moore. The ‘tracing’ process is revealed in the film, to reflexively anounce the filmmakers process of tracing the couples’ life journey
Pucill’s drawing ‘pretends’ an imaginative reconstruction of Moore in her cell, while showing that the surrogate performer is also the film-maker
Pucill’s drawing ‘pretends’ an imaginative reconstruction of Moore in her cell, while showing that the surrogate performer is also the film-maker
Narcissus, film still from Confessions to the Mirror (2016)
Narcissus, film still from Confessions to the Mirror (2016)
Entre Nous, film still from Confessions to the Mirror (2016)
Entre Nous, film still from Confessions to the Mirror (2016)
Japanese Doll, Confessions to the Mirror (2016)
Japanese Doll, Confessions to the Mirror (2016)
Garden Self-portraits, Confessions to the Mirror (2016)
Garden Self-portraits, Confessions to the Mirror (2016)