I can't tell you how long I have wanted to see this film. Filmmaker Todd Haynes ("Poison," "Velvet Goldmine") made this no budget film as a student. At 45 minutes running, it's the story of Karen Carpenter's battle with Anna Rexia Nervosa, the eating disorder that eventually caused her death. Haynes tells the story using Barbie Dolls. That's right. Barbie Dolls.

This is what is so radical and, partially, so discomforting about the film. It's easy to be fooled into thinking that Haynes is trying to be funny or that the film is in bad taste. But I don't think that's the case here. Haynes films the piece fairly straight-forwardly and with an honesty about the disease and how it affects Karen in a way that is both troubling and thought-provoking. By using a Barbie Doll to impersonate Karen and most of the entire cast, Haynes makes comments about our value judgments and about our objectification of women. It's pretty intense stuff. Perhaps a little too coolly ironic but not in bad taste and certainly not for laughs.

What he does do, which no other film about the subject (to the best of my knowledge) has done, is explore the family pressures that may or may not have affected Karen. Her parents are seen as highly controlling. Flashback sequences suggest her father gave Karen harsh spankings. Richard, her brother, is seen as angry, abusive and controlling as well. There is also a reference to Richard perhaps being gay which, again as far as I know, is something that has never been publicly discussed or disclosed.

In response to all of this, because Haynes uses The Carpenters' music throughout the piece, Richard got an injunction against the film. Unable to secure the rights to the music used in the film, Haynes cannot legally display the piece. It is, in effect, an illegal film. No one can distribute it, display it, exhibit it or show it. At least not with it's original sound anyway. Therefore, it is now near impossible to see the film. Richard refused the piece to even be used as an informative film at treatment centers for Anna Rexia Nervosa. This is understandable, perhaps. He is shown in an extremely negative light. But acceptable. No. The film is an artwork. If it were profitable at all to pursue legally the right to display the work, or to somehow record a new soundtrack for the film, perhaps it would be seen.

Regardless, somehow I got to see a copy. UT has a copy from what I have been told but I did not see it there. Filmatically, the piece is simply wonderful. This is an excellent example of creative filmmaking of the highest magnitude. Perhaps it doesn't seem so revolutionary now for this story to be played out by Barbie Dolls, but in 1987 it was damn near cinematic genesis. Haynes uses anything and everything he can get his hands on to present the story. Miniatures, 8mm home footage, short interview segments, title cards, narration, TV clips, newsreel footage and much more are used to tell the story. It's simply remarkable how creative Haynes and his collaborator Cynthia Schneider, who co-wrote and co-produced the piece, can be here. And always the soundtrack works with these seemingly radical elements to make them congruent. Carpenters' songs as well as a few hits from the 70's by others weave the soundtrack together to create the context and the chronology of the story.

It's easy to see why Haynes was allowed to have a career when you see this early work. It is, without a doubt, a masterpiece. To be one of the fortunate few to see it is simply a film-lover's dream come true.

Note:

Voices by Gwen Kraus and Bruce Tuthill among others.

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