SWOON

US, 1992, 80 minutes, Black and White.
Daniel Schlachet, Craig Chester.
Directed by Tom Kalin.

Swoon was written and directed by Tom Kalin, an artist turned film-maker, after short works in film and video. His film, produced in black and white most effectively, is a reworking of the Leopold and Loeb case of the '20s. The two Jewish students, studying Nietzsche and Freud, had a personal and a sexual relationship. It was fostered by their daring in acts of vandalism and arson. They were moving beyond morality. Finally deciding to abduct a young boy, they murder him. Inept at covering their tracks, they are quickly arrested, clash in their testimony, give information to the police about the other. Loeb is eventually killed in prison. Leopold lives on and is eventually released, bitter about his life experiences.

The film re-creates the atmosphere of Chicago in the '20s, the university, society and cultural life. Archival material is used as well as transcripts from diaries and the court proceedings. However, the film is quite stylised in its presentation of the students - emphasising theatre and performance, inviting audiences not just simply to observe but to try to understand. Writer-director Kalin is very involved in the United States in AIDS collectives and in the gay community. However, he says that his film is not an exercise in gay analysis and politics.

The Leopold and Loeb story was used as the basis for Hitchcock's Rope in 1948 and Richard Fleischer's Compulsion in 1959 with Bradford Dillman and Orson Welles as Clarence Darrow.

1. Small-budget feature and its success? Acclaim, awards and festivals? The background of Tom Kalin, artist, short-film maker, videos? His public concerns about gay politics?

2. The quality of the black and white photography, the re creation of Chicago in the '20s? Exteriors and interiors? Light and shadow? The musical score?

3. The title and its reference to the characters, their behaviour?

4. The notoriety of the case, the involvement of Clarence Darrow? The interpretations of the case, the cinema treatments? Violence, philosophy, psychology? Personality and responsibility, motivation? Sexuality?

5. The art style of the film, the initial focus on theatre and performance, rhetoric, the voice-overs? The use of archival material? The authenticity of diaries and court proceedings?

6. Chicago 1924, American colleges, students and their activity, acting and performance? Friendships? Study? The influence of Nietzsche, Freud? The fascination of psychology, going beyond good and evil, amorality? The Jewish background, Catholic background?

7. The young men, their age, experience, social backgrounds? Their friendship, relationship, sexual relationship? The portrayal of a homosexual relationship? The relationship of their sexual behaviour to their morality, their violence?

8. The influence of one on the other? The dominance of each, dependence? Their conversations? Loeb and his dominance? Leopold and his compliance? Their vandalism and the effect, the arson? (And the dates given to help audiences in their perspective?) The effect on each of them, concealing what they had done? The sexual aftermath?

9. The portraits of the families, their respectability, social status, money?

10. The plan for the abduction, its details? The motivation? The carrying out of the plan, the fact, the brutality of the murder? The death of the boy? The hurried burial? The effect on each of them? Conscience or not? Self-protection?

11. The aftermath, concealing the facts, carrying on their ordinary life? Their lies? The effect on their relationship? The arrest, each implicating the other, the visualising of their lies? Betrayal?

12. The police, the meticulous investigation, the detail? The police routines, the interrogations? The conclusions from the conflicting evidence? The court cases, the use of transcripts, evidence, accusations, cross-examinations? The reputation of Clarence Darrow? His participation in the case? Judge, jury? The audience's judgment?

13. The two sent to prison? Loeb and his behaviour, relationships? The attitudes of the other prisoners? The shower, sexuality, murder? The survival? The long years, his release? His wanting to vindicate himself? Personal collapse?

14. A perspective on American culture? The traditions of the 20th century, ideologies? Religious and philosophical backgrounds? Morality? Power and morality? Sanity and insanity?