Schrödingerscat - Paolo Pistolesi
Original Dutch film title:
SCHRÖDINGERSKAT
Year:
1990
Length:
18 minutes
Tagline:
Experimental film about a philosophical inquiry.
Logline:
In his flat in the suburbs, Mr Schrödinger enters a life after this one, a life outside of the reality of mirrors. In a classroom children are preoccupied with the question if something can exist if it cannot be seen.
Synopsis:
On a windy autumn day, Mr Schrödinger goes shopping and then returns to his apartment in the concrete jungle of Amsterdam’s Bijlmermeer.
Simultaneously, a philosophical problem is explained to a class full of children using an allegorical story: an evil wizard puts a cat in a box. He closes the box and opens a tap to allow poison gas to enter through a tube.
The teacher then asks the children what they can say about what happens in the box, but without opening it. At that moment. Mt Schrödinger has a heart attack in his apartment and dies.
Most children think the cat is dead, but the teacher explains that if you can’t see something with your own eyes, you can’t be certain of what has happened. Some philosophers even suggest the cat is dead and alive at the same time.
In the meantime, the soul of Schrödinger is fighting to escape. It fails and ends up in front of a mirror, but there is no reflection. In confusion, it falls through the mirror on a journey past random fragments from daily life in the city. His voice continues to haunt a transmission frequency and when he tries to make contact with reality, we sometimes even hear it from a radio. We see where the soul wants to be. We hear other sounds than those implied by the pictures.
The tornado of confusing situations evokes the intense desire to be helped in Mr Schrödinger’s soul, but first his body has to be found.
In the end it is the children (or are they angels?) in their games who will help Schrödinger’s soul to achieve his end.
Cast:
Bruno Ganz (Mister Schrödinger)
Johan Leysen (Teacher)
Crew:
direction: Paolo Pistolesi
script: Bert Klei, Merel van Neerbos
camera: Joost van Starrenburg
light: Franc Van Zutphen
sound: Alex Booy
art direction & costumes: Irma de Bruijne, Francis Hutjens
make-up: Mia De Jong
editing: Stefan Kamp
re-recording mix: Jan van Sandwijk
laboratory: Cineco
music: Gianni Pistolesi
production manager: Claire Leo
producer: René Scholten
this film is financially supported by:
Fonds voor de Nederlandse Film
Awards:
Nederlandse Filmdagen 1990: Golden Calf Best Short Film