Fuses (1967) User Reviews

Feminist sex flick! (But not porn)

[Sorsimus · 7/10 · 11 March 2001]

Well, not exactly, more like art. In any case it is a film about people without any clothes on and yes, with close ups of genitalia.

Visual representations of sex form the biggest and most profitable branch of filmmaking. Fuses, however is not part of that genre (or mode)called porn.

It is a "woman's take" on sex. It is a very personal account of how it feels to have sex. Whether it succeeds or not is up to you, but it must be noted that in my opinion it cannot be classified as porn, so Schneeman must be doing something right.

Inspirational, brilliant.

[whoops11 · 10/10 · 4 May 2002]

Fuses is an experimental/avant-guard/abstract film (or whatever you want to call it) about the artist and her lover. The film, instead of taking place from a voyeuristic point of view, which is pretty standard in a sex scene, is from the POV of the artist herself, her parter, and her cat Kitsch. Though she fails somewhat in the attempt to make it completely non-voyeuristic (its very provocative), its a brilliant attempt at showing what sex FEELS like from a woman's POV rather than what it looks like from a man's POV. The film itself seems to have been treated with bleach, baked in an oven, soaked in urine, and painted, scratched and burnt. Techniques that I believe she learned from filmmaker Stan Brakhage. She has commented that she was "permitted to be an image, but not an image maker," in response to the swell of negative feedback after the public finally saw the film. The film is dream- like and very rich in colour. Its not so obscured by experimental/handmade techniques that you can't see what's going on. There are bits that seem to be memories and the present sex act which is like none other I've seen. Anyway, its probably one of my favorite short films of all time.

Porn disguised as art aka one of the defining sexperimental movies

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 22 March 2019]

"Fuses" is an American short film from 1969, so this one has its 50th anniversary this year. The writer and director and lead actress here is Carolee Schneemann, who was slightly under the age of 40 when this was made and her co-lead here is her then-husband James Tenney. Funnily (nor not so funnily) they were already divorced when the film came out. The two are having sex here, there is no need to talk around it. And it is an experimental movie, so if you wanna say so, call it Brakhage meets Kim Kardashian. It is very explicit. The style and experimental component hides only very little. Full frontal nudity on several occasions, a woman enjoying coitus ecstatically and on another occasion she has her man's genital in her mouth. Don't think something is wrong with the video because there is no audio here, it is a silent movie. But yeah, in exchange for said silence you get enough video action. I personally cannot really say I enjoyed the watch too much. Certainly not as much as its two stars. It's probably not even particularly interesting if you are very horny. The colors are more on the annoying side, at least to me and I found them rather distracting than adding something of quality. Now you shouldn't speak badly about the dead, so I stop now. Tenney is dead for a long time already and Schneemann died earlier this month around the age of 80. This is probably her most known career effort from a not truly prolific or long career, so I guess I don't have o hate myself for never having heard her name. If everything else is euqally low quality as this one here, I certainly haven't been missing much. Watch something else instead.

A much needed take on a healthy heteresrxual sexual relationship 1967 Avant Guarde film

[maisymouse30 · 10/10 · 24 March 2013]

A very skillfully made rendition of the sexual relationship between Carolee Schneemann and her then-partner James Tenney. Shot on 16mm film that Scheneemann has edited completely by hand, burning cutting and dying the film it is clear to see the delicate and personal touch of this beautiful film. Andy Warhol, with whom Schneemann was acquainted told Schneemann she should have taken the film to Hollywood but it's controversy of showing women enjoying sex was too much for audiences more familiar with the fetishisation of the female body than understanding a shared experience between couples in intercourse protested explicitly at the film making it very controversial.

I watched it alongside other complementary films at the Barbican Dancing around Duchamp 2013 Grammar of Subversion event and have included more information on the film and others that might be worth seeing it on my blog. http://humdrumdelusions.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/grammar-of-subversion- homage-to-rrose.html