DARK STAR: H.R. GIGER’S WORLD Rating: NNN See listing.
Belinda Sallin has spent a lot of time in small, dark rooms with H.R. Giger. Her new documentary, Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World, examines the work of the Swiss painter and illustrator by investigating his life.
As she explains in an interview, this investigation required no small degree of trust between Sallin and her famously difficult subject, whom she was fortunate enough to interview in what would turn out to be the final months of his life. But it all worked out, somehow.
H.R. Giger was famously reluctant to discuss his work. How did you get him to open up?
I met Sandra [Beretta, Giger’s former assistant] by coincidence, and she introduced me to him – she opened the door. I paid the Giger family many, many visits afterwards, and I think Giger saw that my research was serious and my knowledge of his work profound. I think that’s something he appreciated.
His appearance in Jodorowsky’s Dune a couple of years ago was a little contentious. Did you find him a difficult interview as well?
Upon meeting him, I accepted a lot of things – for example, the fact that the [spoken] word wasn’t the medium of H.R. Giger. So I knew I’d have to use other ways to realize the film. I said, “You don’t have to give me hours and hours of interviews,” and I think H.R. was pleased when he realized that I understood his situation.
He does seem more comfortable on camera in Dark Star than anywhere else I’d seen him, even when he’s visibly unwell.
I think this was really his last performance. It’s quite provocative, his decision to appear in this film. Society is obsessed with youth and beauty and fitness, and he was the opposite. He showed himself when he was ill. He became a part of his work. For his whole life, he showed death and sexuality and birth. And now he shows that he is at the end of his life. I think he knew exactly what he was doing… that he wouldn’t have many more years to live, so it was the right time, and he wanted to do this project at the end of his life.
What’s next for you? Or is it still all Giger all the time?
[laughter] Not Giger all the time. But Giger will stay with me, of course – his art and his family. I see Carmen Giger [his widow] regularly because I want her to know what is going on with the film. And I have many other projects in my head, but nothing to share yet.
Belinda Sallin on Giger opening up to her, and discussing the death of his partner Li Tobler:
Sallin on Giger’s iconoclasm:
Sallin on Giger’s death:
See our review of the film here.
normw@nowtoronto.com | @normwilner
