Zorns Lemma backdrop

Zorns Lemma

1970·Documentary·1h
7.1
Zorns Lemma is a 1970 American structuralist film by Hollis Frampton. It is named after Zorn's lemma (also known as the Kuratowski–Zorn lemma), a proposition of set theory formulated by mathematician Max Zorn in 1935. Zorns Lemma is prefaced with a reading from an early grammar textbook. The remainder of the film, largely silent, shows the viewer an evolving 24-part "alphabet" (where i & j and u & v are interchanged) which is cycled through, replaced and expanded upon. The film's conclusion shows a man, woman and dog walking through snow as several voices read passages from On Light, or the Ingression of Forms by Robert Grosseteste.
Directed by Hollis Frampton

Cast

Robert Huot
Robert Huot
Rosemarie Castoro
Rosemarie Castoro
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp
Joyce Wieland
Joyce Wieland

Crew

Hollis Frampton
Hollis Frampton
Director

Popular Reviews

10 reviews
Greg H
Greg H
Zorns Lemma
Yea this school house rock short really dragged on
Yea this school house rock short really dragged on
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Johnny
Johnny
Zorns Lemma
This belongs in a museum……………………….yea
This belongs in a museum……………………….yea
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Coop
Coop
Zorns Lemma
I'm sorry but this was torture
I'm sorry but this was torture
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PoochieVince
PoochieVince
Zorns Lemma
TBH every experimental film is more or less the same to me. It's nice to see different kinds though.
TBH every experimental film is more or less the same to me. It's nice to see different kinds though.
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Gabriel Silva
Gabriel Silva
Zorns Lemma
Took a hot minute, but I think I’m finally warmed up to Hollis Frampton as a filmmaker. I think if someone were to ask me what structuralist film is, I’d show them this film. The snippets of words slowly morphing into snippets of everyday life as the sequence repeats is poetic and beautiful, inviting the audience to follow along with several smaller narratives, fragmented by the alphabet itself. By the time that sequence ends, we are fully used to it and we are jostled back into a new structure, made to follow it at the same pace we were before but through an entirely different lens.
Took a hot minute, but I think I’m finally warmed up to Hollis Frampton as a filmmaker. I think if someone were to ask me what structuralist film is, I’d show them this film. The snippets of words slowly morphing into snippets of everyday life as the sequence repeats is poetic and beautiful, inviting the audience to follow along with several smaller narratives, fragmented by the alphabet itself. By the time that sequence ends, we are fully used to it and we are jostled back into a new structure, made to follow it at the same pace we were before but through an entirely different lens.
Favorite
Comment