Chelsea Girls

Chelsea Girls
Directed by	Andy Warhol Paul Morrissey
Produced by	Andy Warhol
Written by	Ronald Tavel Andy Warhol
Starring	Nico Brigid Berlin Ondine Gerard Malanga Eric Emerson Mary Woronov Mario Montez Ingrid Superstar International Velvet
Music by	The Velvet Underground
Cinematography	Andy Warhol Paul Morrissey (uncredited)
Release date(s)	September 15, 1966
Running time	210 min. (approx.)
Country	United States
Budget	$3,000 (approx.)

Chelsea Girls is a 1966 experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films (both feature length and short). It was shot at the Hotel Chelsea and other locations in New York City, and follows the lives of several of the young women who live there, and stars many of Warhol's superstars. It is presented in a split screen, accompanied by alternating soundtracks attached to each scene and an alternation between black and white and color photography. The original cut runs at just over three hours long.^[1]

The title, Chelsea Girls, is a reference to the location in which the film takes place. It was the inspiration for star Nico's 1967 debut album, Chelsea Girl. The album featured a ballad-like track titled "Chelsea Girls", written about the hotel and its inhabitants who appear in the film.

Plot and style

Chelsea Girls does not follow a clear narrative, but rather solely consists of three hours of raw footage that focuses on various long-term guests (primarily women and Warhol superstars) staying in the Chelsea Hotel, and their everyday interactions with each other - from the mundane to flamboyant. Many of those depicted in the film are Bohemians, artists, and drug addicts who appear to be lost within the confines of their lives. Those most prominent in the film are Nico, Brigid Berlin, Mary Woronov, and Ondine. The film is presented in a split screen, with two separate things occurring on both sides of the screen simultaneously; however, of the two audio tracks attached to each scene, only one is played in conjunction with what is onscreen; the other side remains silent. In live projection, this is accomplished by the projectionist manually changing the volume between the two projectors while referring to an instruction guide that comes with the reels. Additionally, each side alternates its scenes between black and white and color photography.

The film ends with a continuous take of an emotive Nico crying under the glare of various colored lights on the left side of the screen; on the right side of the screen, Ondine speaks to an offscreen woman about various narcotics before performing an amphetamine injection on her. The last line of the film, spoken by Ondine, is "By the way, The Bride Of Frankenstein is the greatest movie ever made. It's just fabulous... Isn't it?". Instrumental music by The Velvet Underground accompanies this final scene.

Production

According to script-writer Ronald Tavel, Warhol first brought up the idea for the film in the back room of Max's Kansas City, Warhol's favorite nightspot, during the summer of 1966. In Ric Burns' documentary film Andy Warhol, Tavel recollected that Warhol took a napkin and drew a line down the middle and wrote 'B' and 'W' on opposite sides of the line; he then showed it to Tavel, explaining, "I want to make a movie that is a long movie, that is all black on one side and all white on the other." Warhol was referring to both the visual concept of the film, as well as the content of the scenes presented.

The film was shot in the summer and early autumn of 1966 in various rooms and locations inside the Hotel Chelsea, although it is worth noting that of all those who starred in the film, only poet René Ricard actually lived there at the time.^[2] Filming also took place at Warhol's studio The Factory. Appearing in the film were many of Warhol's regulars, including Nico, Brigid Berlin, Gerard Malanga, Ingrid Superstar, International Velvet and Eric Emerson. According to Burns' documentary, Warhol and his companions completed an average of one 33-minute segment per week.

Nico (left) and Ondine (right) in the final scene of Chelsea Girls. This still comes from the 2003 Italian DVD print of the film, which is its only official home video release. It is now out of print.

Once principal photography wrapped, Warhol and co-director Paul Morrissey selected the twelve most striking vignettes they had filmed and then projected them side-by-side to create a visual juxtaposition of both contrasting images and divergent content (the so-called "white" or light and innocent aspects of life against the "black" or darker, more disturbing aspects.) As a result, the 6 1/2 hour running time was essentially cut in half, to 3 hours and 15 minutes. However, part of Warhol's concept for the film was that it would be unlike watching a regular movie, as the two projectors could never achieve exact synchronization from viewing to viewing; therefore, despite specific instructions of where individual sequences would be played during the running time, each viewing of the film would, in essence, be an entirely different experience.

Several of the sequences have gone on to attain a cult status, most notably the "Pope" sequence, featuring avant-garde actor and poet Robert Olivo, or Ondine as he called himself, as well as a segment featuring Mary Woronov entitled "Hanoi Hannah," one of two portions of the film scripted specifically by Tavel.

Notably missing is a sequence Warhol shot with his most popular superstar Edie Sedgwick which, according to Morrissey, Warhol excised from the final film at the insistence of Sedgwick herself, who claimed she was under contract to Bob Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, at the time the film was made.

Cast

The cast of the film is largely made up of persons playing themselves, and are credited as so:

Critical reception

Still from Chelsea Girls, featuring Mary Woronov in color photography on the left side, and black & white photography on the right.

Although the film garnered the most commercial success of Warhol's films, reaction to it was mixed.

Roger Ebert reviewed the film in June 1967, and had a negative response to it, granting it one star out of four. In his review of the film, he stated "...what we have here is 3 1/2 hours of split-screen improvisation poorly photographed, hardly edited at all, employing perversion and sensation like chili sauce to disguise the aroma of the meal. Warhol has nothing to say and no technique to say it with. He simply wants to make movies, and he does: hours and hours of them."^[3] Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle reviewed the film in honor of its screening in the bay area in 2002, and gave the film a rather positive review, stating "The tyranny of the camera is the oppression The Chelsea Girls records and imposes. No wonder it still seems radical, despite all we have seen onscreen and off since 1966."^[4]

TV Guide reviewed the film in December 2006, granting it four stars, calling it "fascinating, provocative, and hilarious", and "a film whose importance as a 1960s cultural statement outweighs any intrinsic value it may have as a film."^[5]

Internet film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has the film ranked as 57% "fresh", or positive, out of eight collected reviews.^[6]

Availability

Home video

Chelsea Girls is largely unavailable for home entertainment. The film belongs to the Andy Warhol Foundation, and it, along with Warhol's other films (sans a handful of his screen tests, which have since been released on DVD)^[7] have never seen home video releases in the United States. In Europe, however, a handful of Warhol's films were released on DVD, including a short-lived DVD print of Chelsea Girls which was available in Italy for some time. This Italian DVD print, which is the film's only official home video release, was released on September 16, 2003.^[8] It is now out of print and unavailable to the public, unless purchased secondhand by personal online sellers.

Museum screenings

While the film is vastly unavailable for personal purchase, it is often screened at art museums, and has been shown at The Museum of Modern Art^[9] (which owns a rare print of the film reels) as well as The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The film was also screened in San Francisco for the first time in nearly twenty years at the city's infamous Castro Theater in April 2002.^[10] Since the film is so hard to come by, it has become a rarity for Warhol fans. A future home video release has never been planned nor discussed.

The only known footage of the film available for viewing on the web is a five minute clip featuring Ingrid Superstar and Ondine on the left side of the screen having a conversation, and Nico doing her makeup and hair with son Ari on the right. The clip can be found on YouTube.

See also

• Andy Warhol filmography
• Hotel Chelsea
• Reality films
• Arthouse cinema

References

1. ^ "All Movie: The Chelsea Girls". AllMovie.Com. http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-chelsea-girls-87082/review. Retrieved 16 September 2009. 
2. ^ Leve, Ariel 'New York Storeys' The Sunday Times Magazine, 25 March 2007, pp. 40-51. p. 49
3. ^ Ebert, Roger (27 June 1967). "Roger Ebert reviews "Chelsea Girls"". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19670626/REVIEWS/706260301/1023. Retrieved 8 July 2009. 
4. ^ Baker, Kenneth (11 April 2002). "Film flashes back to Warhol '60s / Rarely seen movie a near overdose of artist's voyeurism". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/04/11/DD176261.DTL. Retrieved 8 July 2009. 
5. ^ "Review: The Chelsea Girls". TV Guide. 17 December 2006. http://movies.tvguide.com/chelsea-girls/review/110740. Retrieved 9 July 2009. 
6. ^ "Chelsea Girls". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chelsea_girls/. Retrieved 9 July 2009. 
7. ^ "The 13 Most Beautiful Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests DVD". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Songs-Warhol-Screen-Tests/dp/B001MG2YQO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1247040952&sr=8-2. Retrieved 8 July 2009. 
8. ^ "Chelsea Girls". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Chelsea-Girls-Pal-Region-0/dp/B0002JC674. Retrieved 17 September 2009. 
9. ^ "MOMA: The Chelsea Girls screening: 8 June 2007". Museum of Modern Art. http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/4012. Retrieved 8 July 2009. 
10. ^ "San Francisco Cinematheque Film Calender: April-July 2002". San Francisco Cinematheque. http://www.sfcinematheque.org/calendar-17937.shtml?x=36. Retrieved 9 July 2009. 

• "Chelsea Girls". WarholStars. http://www.warholstars.org/warhol/warhol1/warhol1f/chelsea.html. Retrieved January 18, 2006. 

External links

• Chelsea Girls at the Internet Movie Database
• Chelsea Girls at Allmovie
• YouTube: The Chelsea Girls (1966): 5 minute clip of the film.
• Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog