DAUGHT ER RITE In this, fs of remarkable simplicity, Micelle Citton lus produced a complex sn unsetling Work exploring simula: tsi the psychological dyamies oF The Stricture composed on one band of step Frinted optical hlowaps of Seam home five fttage (ypicd waving camera Siyleof Citron’ Famiy"s actual hone nnosie) showing two young children at Sarkous aes, about 3 through 12, and thearapparent motficr, anton tie other ian seaeces of eerily document iy Foste ofthe two daughters having grown, marred, separated, one becomes oct gmothr > wile ona sat to thei aigg mother’shome: with these iwoelements Cilyon us woven a complex Sn penetrating account of the pressures dra Uistrtions provoked in the clause dhe and hypocriteal enviroment of Sine middleclass Tone” Int fist sequence, taken from the tome movies. we seea young git her sath sbwed by step priming in poole, fer joe jtting distinctly and then, wii tthe same sequerie, we see the muther ite same gait with the same dtinct itvline,dgplving erly and sinply the ft ene dagiter = mother With this as with each soquence of hue mov ie footage. woman’ voice, nnilent zn ansguously positioned dispassons say denibes the mothers separation from Berta, he silting mows, ter ease senso new-found freon te lonelnes her sefiection,— ar is absense, This agters voice" malting 2 Similar tone, profesing love and adie 3viomin dhe some breath ith uted md conndenation, This sequence of home movi footage ss men folkwwed sith Tong single kee tnwhich the ewo davghters Maggie and Stefani discuss with ash other Soul seem foe the ist time each Uther seme of thie mother: et cas sand wounils, In these, Maggie seems the moredeeply hurt though eash hs sone listing sc. I this is “docamen {ary sequence (shot int velentles “in cna vette style, the carers probing with hesitant soon) Stefani deserves her mot ier's"muahey” attentions while Stetany iia Loa giving ith to ber ow ld ‘vlemavie dispensed ae f Stefan were child; ambguided mother’s love which ‘culis in Stefani evicting hee mater from te bittoon and in turn inlet ing never focgiven sight Them turns then to another sequen ce of lime movie footage, the diseribo ied voice agin descrbing ier mother, in anecdote on her departure for Hawa ater her dvorve, Apu the vole atic ates the mothers payliological suber fuges, wavering between contempt and sympa able to understand the forces which compelled the mothe to decetts 2nd faeoous, and yer unable 1 distan- Ge hersel rom the damage consequently inflicted onthe daughters. ori 26 Fer neat nd Lea Comey Caria Go Wares Bae Uonenay Prone In such manner the film moves, step by step. deeper into the invidents which in the end leave all parties the 1 ‘Uaughsers und the phaser (asx! eonspie Uuously aisent except in y desnoni: cole 2s apis the father” haxing seduced ped tone af his daughters in his only presence into a payee quagmire in shih thre are'ny winners. amly victins. As cuel in the fist shot of the daugh: tex/onothes, with the same jin, the film's centre homes in upon the way in ‘whch the daughters rephiate the mother, Uespute their consciousness that this is tedactly what they aze doing: Vor Stefani and Maggie, despite their kno ing objections, the future looms ae in & Greek deama, with fate inexorably press ing then iats the movkl of their mother, Tone of the “documentary” sequences, ster Magete bay made a long complaint ver her mother’s prying nature reading levters, dies. invading Maggies privacy (all justified under the authority of "not hers love ance”), the two sisters, alone in their mother's house, gleefully Furanaage through her belongings, every Dit as shoopy as their mother, They find ‘stash of pills valium and speed — hete the metaphor of polatty is underlined. the dynaraic of schizophrenia is rendered conctete}and even though the mother his just asked Stefani for a loan an envelope full of money. With this sequee: € te layermg oF decelis projected tro nother (o daughters i brought full bloom, hor cluiklren caught iy stt doing just as she would do, And s0, a0 earlier lament ‘of Maggie’ that they were not the daigh: ters which in thei mothers eyes they were suppesed to fe, somes fall and bit- ter eile despite themselves they ate ex actly the children they were raise to be Ina fing dénoument, weighted with the contradictory paths which marks the entice fl, Maggie deserihes her mot her's gilt w her of 9 35 year ok raght aoivn™ descred by Maggie as sf and tovely a beautiful gift but inthe same imorpent with foreboding: "Math wats stall then.” she exclaims, And by in plication tie tute ween to fi Sten find Maggi like an icon glove Un dhe fi’s fast sequence, over home nove footage, the daughters we” Speake of "alin this fn whl fas in sense served asa hind of set therapy, dnd of he Koowing that were her moter to se i she woul recoil and ask “why dio yon fave fo say these things", “And At this pott the credits come on, ceva ing chat the seeming “Gocumentary' has infact been staged, that Maggie played by Penelope Vietor, Sicfans hy. Ann Wil fod and te “Jaugive's voice fat of Jest Hancock, The apple eatt of truth, for tuts sake, is sent tumbling. [As mentioned eater, Daughter Rite is an unsettling film precisely tor the dlegree to wich it penetrates and exposes the sad ang terrible damage which ils: ionary ‘values’ can ifict upon people, a values which suppress truthfulness for ie ke of at ideologically desited sp pricance af happiness sn propeiety. 1 ECitron’s willingeess 1 this tin to pee fuck these fasides, and to reveal the a Ualictions aad ly poctiss which stich a system reprises which gives Daghtor {sep than ts seen simple structure wold seem to allow Ieslikewie this wilhngness which tus evoked ie some places a sill respon Séiom some eminist ities, who would prefer, tontcally.athetorical gloss Sr ideatogisaly “correct rectitude goss no less davaging, than that whish {he mother in this film prefers to srap ping with the realities which suerouad fae and ber children, Teste Ciuon's elit that se lis made a profoundly Courageous tits devout of rhetorical po ‘ing. which has eu thyough to tus which while Feminist, ae deeper stil are That she has made a film whieh not only does ths, but which Hewise dias into question the thetorical postures of “documentary” ¥sfetin and oper ot eves not only ta difficlt content but Skotusforst at once vst gard ad Mloroughly avcessible sa niajor achies. gnent. We reed more Hinimaking of this kin ~ thhomaking which s honest, thoughtful, callenging and thorough fseossble a Teast fo Hohe With 4S dich for honey. Production Notes Discussion with Michelle Citron rev ned miner of interesting material Fivets to this til, and to it maker. The content of Dauchicr Rite was derived Tram snterviow’s with fory different wom nich Citwon carried out, the seist to the tlm was then made Fon & con posite of these — to say all the story" is “otived from (someone's) actual exper tence, The “daughters voice” narration ‘sal pressipted and the document Sy? sections were improvised around a logse seript, bing worked on in video taped rehearsals, The fils was shot on 412 to 1 tatio, at the budget for the en- tie fi, nchading an interegative, was 53,500. Citron did her own optical print. dng and all the preparatory film work: A 0 rolling, timing forthe printer et Which ist say that ot only hs tron Uwoughe ro beara clear inteligence on this work, bueaso that she has brought itto beat through a eraftpersons under- Standing of the medi tits fall range ‘Obmeaning.” And it shows inthe fl “his i no paint-by-number making but rather Someone with full practical grasp of the medium and its potential and ‘wth clear and passionace neat so that these tools get used for something worth saying, however difficult the teuths mey be Jon Jost