Erotique
A consistent thread is discernible in Tscherkassky’s Œuvre involving a game of pivoting between the barely recognizable and the barely no longer recognizable filmic image – it is about the pleasure of seeing. An example of this is Erotique. Swirling images appear in cyclical fragments of movement: aspects of a woman’s face, red lips, eyes – often it remains unclear what part of the body is seen (who wants to can see/imagine/think of sexual organs and acts). The gaze gets hung up on partial objects. There is no whole, integrated body to be realized – a body that has always posed a challenge for cinema to represent. (Michael Palm)