Zorns Lemma

Sep 12 1970 Not Rated 1h 0m
Documentary

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.

Plot

A voice is heard reading a series of couplets from the Bay State Primer, before there begins a series of shots. A visual alphabet, composed of street and shop signs is gone over again and again in a loop, using new signs and words each time. As the film progresses, each letter of the alphabet is slowly and progressively replaced using a new image for each letter, including a man painting a wall, a woman speaking, a clementine being peeled, etc. As each letter continues to be gradually replaced, the images for the letters already replaced progress in action: the man finishes the wall, the peeling of the clementine is completed. At the end, a shot of a couple with their dog is shown to be walking into the woods in a single long shot, whilst six women take turns speaking Grosseteste's "On Light, or the Ingression of Forms" to a rhythm, each speaking a different word every second.

Written by

N/A

Directed by

Hollis Frampton

Cast

Rosemarie Castoro, Ginger Michels, Marcia Steinbrecher

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

Word Pictures

Languages

English

Awards

N/A

Scores
# of Votes
855
Average Rating
6.5 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA