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at 05:24, 12 Oct 2006
Posts: 0
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Yes
Hello,
I have seen many great films, but have never written to their creators to thank them until now. This movie is surely one of the greatest films in history. All the elements of film-making (story, dialogue, cinematography, casting, directing, acting, scenery, lighting, color, music, location and more) were superbly crafted. It is one of the most imaginative and integrated films I have ever witnessed. I could speak on all of these features for hours, but will mention just a couple: the idea of the free-form "Shakespearean" rhyme worked brilliantly. It was never forced. It fit so perfectly. The delivery was flawless and musical. A lesser director might have let the themes fall toward the provincial or the latest headline. Potter kept them aloft in universal and deeply human archetypes. The film is visually "visceral". I may have too small a sample to generalize, but I have noticed that this quality is especially pronounced in films directed by women (ex. The Piano, by Jane Campion, had this quality). The images hit so deeply they brand the story into levels of your soul you barely recognize. The film would have been great even if they stood alone. The acting was absolutely gripping. The entire cast created miracles of the art. I think Joan Allen especially is one of the greatest actresses I have ever seen. Shirley Henderson was haunting. Either actress could simply blink and eye and throw you back in your seat. I am so grateful that films like this are being made, and so sorry for anyone who missed this exquisite masterpiece. My sincere thanks to all who participated in the creation of this work. Wherever you go and whatever you do in this world, you have been part of a work that has made it better.
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sally potter
at 05:39, 19 Oct 2006
Posts: 193
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REPLY....
This is a breathtaking message to receive. Thankyou for writing. I must reiterate what i have said elsewhere....hearing from you, the viewer of a film, is like a missing piece of the puzzle of working in this medium. I work for years on a film, day in, day out. It becomes my world and i surrender to it, utterly. Then it is cast out into a void, a kind of silence. That silence is temporarily filled with the white noise of critical reception, usually confusing and contradictory, sometimes vicious. Even praise can feel like damnation if it is off the mark. Or faint. And so, sometimes, I lose heart.
But then a message, like yours, comes back to let me know that the work is not wasted...the work has landed, has found its home.
Thank you also for addressing your remarks to the many unsung others whose fingerprints are all over the work and who are so often overlooked: my dearly beloved collaborators in front of and behind the camera.
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spirit108
at 01:24, 3 Nov 2006
Posts: 3
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I just saw "Orlando" tonight
Sally: Hi. I know you write your own stuff but if you could take a moment to visit my blog you might find it compelling. Basically I'm a playwright but I knocked out a novella from a screenplay I worte in 1998 called, "Desert Rain." It's a story about a woman documentary filmmaker on a journey of self-discovery in America's southwest I think you might like.
After seeing "Orlando" I thought, "Gee, I wonder what Sally could do with a story like mine?" I mean, I was thinking this is right up your alley. Anyway, all the info is at: http://wd-desert.blogspot.com
and I would be happy to send you the novel when the free ones arrive hopefully within the week. I think it would make a compelling film.
I'm starring in a feature film being released in Xmas 2007. Pretty good since it took me 40 years to finally "make it." Ha!
Hope to hear from you.
Wallace Dorian
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webmaster
at 08:01, 13 Nov 2006
Posts: 1
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Contact details
Could the author of the original post please provide your e-mail address so that we may contact you privately. Many thanks.
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spirit108
at 12:05, 13 Nov 2006
Posts: 3
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My contact
vedictheatre@aol.com
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Logick
at 15:52, 9 May 2007
Posts: 2
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Contact Information
Hello,
I am the author of the original post above(at 05:24, 12 Oct 2006), in case you wanted to contact me. Please post an email address I can use.
Best wishes...
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Logick
at 12:58, 10 May 2007
Posts: 2
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Yes
Let me add to my original posting above (12 Oct 2006), expanding on just one scene: the interaction between Joan and Simon in the lobby at the formal dinner. The scene is in dusky pinks & blues, we watch from a balcony, the film is segmented, telegraphic, furtive, a quick simple series of flash-cards, strobe-images, 30 seconds. There is no dialogue. The motions are dance-like, and driven by the music. In a few quick strokes, like a Chinese ink-drawing, the meaning of the scene, the psychology of the characters, the decisive actions, are all revealed in minimalist fashion. Anything more would have been too much. Any dialogue would have been awkward, could not have been as eloquent as the images. Knowing what to leave out, reducing a scene to an essence, is a rare skill. The scene could have been done a thousand ways that would not have worked. One way did. Imagine the decisions: pinks and blues, strobe-fashion, shot from above as though viewed through the eyes of a detached passer-by just looking in from time to time from out of context, no dialogue (in a film filled with hypnotic dialogue), at a distance, brief, a certain dizziness, the telling gestures, the turns and counter-turns, no one else in the lobby, a scene we might pass by without taking notice turned into an integral moment of the story, a ligament. These scenes, every one, are sculpted. To "watch" this movie is to fall into a deep well.
About the apparently controversial "rhyming couplets": First, they aren't couplets. The form is not that strict, and the delivery is elegant and unique. These are not "sing-song", stilted, forced, or gratuitous rhymes. Why the rhymes though ? I can think of several reasons: They create an impression of timelessness, they lift the dialogue from the ordinary, they import a dramatic tone from classic Shakespearean drama, and they make the dialogue musical and memorable. They encourage a certain focus on the dialogue, to see how it's going to play out, and contribute to the generally hypnotic effect of the movie. Used the way they are here, they make the dialogue dance. Listen to the rise & fall, the pause, the rush, the attack, the delay, the cadence, the coordination with the music. Ironically, rhymes don't translate, and they are words that "have a common sound". I'm sure these metaphors were not lost on Ms. Potter. Rhyming is wrongly deprecated in recent poetry. The greatest poets in history made (and many continue to make) good use of it. Dylan Thomas has one poem where the rhyme to one word is 54 lines away. E.E. Cummings used it. Rap thrives on it. Worrying about the use of "rhymes" is like worrying about the use of verbs. *How* are they used ? At a time when the world was tearing itself apart, a quiet little movie on a low budget was knitting a sleeve. If you need everything to be familiar, need a narrator to explain, have no appreciation for ambiguities, then you might enjoy a blockbuster instead.
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sedatimza
at 10:22, 18 May 2007
Posts: 4
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quest
Esselam from Turkey. I should 'Yes' movie script text. Can you help me. Please...
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sedatimza
at 10:23, 18 May 2007
Posts: 4
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quest
Esselam from Turkey. I should 'Yes' movie script text. Can you help me. Please...
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sedatimza
at 10:23, 18 May 2007
Posts: 4
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quest
Esselam from Turkey. I should 'Yes' movie script text. Can you help me. Please...
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at 14:16, 5 Jun 2007
Posts: 0
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sally potter
i saw YES for the first time last night--truly amazing! i lost sleep thinking about it. i will not repeat all the adulations that have been given to you for YES, but merely to say, you deserve them all.
my amazement reaches the very depth of not only my soul, but all of us on this little blue ball. although i'm not a writer, two years ago i began a project which i hope will terminate in a novel. a few of the parallels between YES and my project are remarkable.
you're extensive use of the philosophical cleaners is truly excellent. i only have a few paragraphs hidden in the heart of the work about a janitor mopping floors whose voice is one of constantly cleaning our feet. i humbly smiled with your use of the word, yes. i have a character, a little girl whose family was killed by terrorists. not having spoken since her misfortunes, in response to a 'cleaner-like' statement, the first word out of her mouth is 'yes'. i use the title of my work similarly to how you have used 'yes'. the questions YES addresses parallel the ones i ask--what does it mean to love, to be human, what is reality, what does it mean for life to have meaning, etc. i'll not bore you with other parallels.
one interesting difference is your brilliant use of verse. you gained so much by its use! i went another direction, attempting to interweave music into my project--attempting to touch creation, to reach the music of the soul in life's celebration.
many times, i think i've bit off more than i can chew, for i can only aspire to reach the artistry you have set before me. in fact, your YES made me think finishing my project is unnecessary. hopefully, i will have time to complete my project--i have learned much from doing it.
i can only conclude that mankind is increasing in its awareness of the brotherhood of all people. and your YES is most definitely a voice to be heard as mankind gropes its way toward that understanding. my sincerest best wishes for your future! i hope to have the opportunity and pleasure of meeting you someday.
naebyos
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