Thailand / France 2007
6:42 minutes / Digital, 4:3, Silent / Colour
Director / Editor: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Cast: Sakda Kaewbuadee, Jenjira Pongpas
Camera: Renaud Chassaing, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Post-Production Supervisor: Lee Chatametikool
Art Director: Nitiping Thinthupthai
Animation: Peeraphat Kittisuwat
Stills: Chaisiri Jiwarangsan
Assistant Director: Suchada Sirithanawuddhi
Producers: Charles de Meaux (Prod.), Tiana Mille (Assistant Prod.), Eric Troncy (Project Organizer)
Production: Kick the Machine, Bangkok

Commissioned by Dior; first presented at Musée de l’Orangerie, Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, to mark the opening of a new set of jewellery designed by Victoire de Castellane, 27 February 2007

The film is an impression of a Jewelry collection by Victoire de Castellane. The pieces in the collection are inspired by various types of dangerous flowers and carnivorous plants. Each piece has a hidden mechanical movement. Most of the film’s image comprise of extreme close-up shots of the jewelries. The film is also a tribute to a garden of the filmmaker’s mother, with wild orchid’s roots, bugs and various organisms.

I often took a refuge in the orchid house when the heat was unbearable. The shades and shadows inside made the air cool and the earth smell like rain. The rocks were soft as they were covered with green moss. The ground was filled with burned chaff that looked like black sand. There were armies of black ants and white termites who ruled the ground. Nearby, the grasshoppers camouflaged themselves in the bushes of Chinese Rose. In the evening, a German Shepherd barked incessantly as my mother walked home. The smoke was creeping from the back kitchen. The rows of orchids’ gray roots were touching my head as I was walking towards the exit. The roots were tentacles that absorbed the visitors’ memories and fed them to the flowers above. Dinnertime arrived with the setting sun. The orchid flowers stood poised, digesting the recollections of the day.

February 17, 2007