Rachel Gruijters

Ordinary Things (that happened in the childhood home of the maker of this film)

Somewhere between the 1930s and now, the cameras start turning and Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Marlene Dietrich gather on one film set. The floor gleams, the spotlights are burning, the narration starts. Born out of a fascination for the construction that is Hollywood, and by extension ‘the perfect Hollywood home’, the maker embodies three actresses from Hollywood’s golden era and their so-called private lives. Their smallest personality traits are performed so precise and characteristically that it becomes artificial. The home isn’t homely. It plays “house” and the inhabitants are speaking Hollywoodian. In this setting, the maker of the film recalls memories of growing up in her childhood home.