VIFF Review: Absolute Wilson

This German produced documentary on famed stage director Robert Wilson is an insightful, and comprehensive portrait of the man and his unique style of stagecraft.

It starts with an account of his difficult childhood in Waco, Texas. Born into a strict conservative Christian family, he never felt like he fit in. He was painfully shy and had a stuttering problem. His childhood best friend was a black boy–a relationship between two outcasts of this very conservative and segregated society.

Trying to please his father, Wilson enrolled in pre-law at the University of Texas. Things did not go as planned as Wilson hated his studies, discovered his love for dance, came out of the closet, and tried to commit suicide.

With nothing left for him in Texas he went to New York and fell in with the experimental theatre community. He discovered he had an empathy with mentally and physically challenged youth, and put his theatre knowledge to use as therapy. In return, they influenced his early work. He adopted a deaf black boy Raymond Andrews who inspired and starred in his play Deafman Glance. He befriended Christopher Knowles, an autistic son of a friend. Knowles' repetitious behaviour and language inspired the repetitive phrases and gestures in A Letter to Queen Victoria.

It is never explicitly stated in the film, but I wonder if Wilson himself is a high functioning autistic. His behaviour sometimes borders on the insensitive and tyrannical. He is driven to work at all times, and has an exhausting travel schedule. His barely sleeps. His loft space has almost no comforts, but his living room is a sea of unusual chairs he has collected.

Wilson's success has been mainly in Europe and not America. Probably his biggest success in America has been the 1976 opera Einstein on the Beach. This collaboration with Philip Glass who composed the music brought both of them to fame. It was an artistic success but not a financial one which left Wilson $150,000 in debt on production costs. The Metropolitan Opera was no great help as they graciously allowed them to rent the house on a Sunday with incurred triple time wages. Thirty years later–an entire generation–would it be even possible to stage this groundbreaking work outside New York or San Francisco?

Wilson's most spectacular failure was The Civil Wars, also a collaboration with Philip Glass which was killed at the last minute by a nervous 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Arts Committee. A 12 hour production with an international cast and segments produced in several countries, it went too far over the heads of the conservative corporate American games leadership.

But Wilson is no stranger to extreme long form theatre. At 7 continous 24 hour days, his play KA MOUNTain and GUARDenia Terrace produced in 1972 for a festival sponsored by the Shah of Iran in Shiraz, Iran stretched the limits of his actors, and the definition of theatre.

Wilson continues to this day to create theatre in his own unique style, and takes on large projects without a blink. His latest project is staging Wagner's Ring Cycle. At a total length of about 15 hours, this marathon opera is perfectly suited to his talents.

At a sprightly 105 minutes, this film is an absolute success in capturing the essence of the man and his work.