Pride Goeth Before the Fall

Hemingway's Nick Adams stories, Figgis claims, were a major influence on The Loss of Sexual Innocence. Fair enough--but what's the deal with Adam and Eve? Why would Figgis find a parallel between his own bildungsroman and Paradise Lost? "It's a comment on the way we photograph," he explains elusively. "The buildup is photographed very differently, moving in from wide shots. As innocence recedes, the camera gets tighter, subjectifies their sex." Or fetishizes it, maybe? "Exactly. It's a deliberate comment on the way we film. Part of the loss of innocence is a cinematic problem. We insist on making sex a naughty, wicked, voyeuristic aspect of our lives. Vast fortunes are made of this corruption of what is actually a very innocent thing. That was in my mind, though I think it would be a stretch to expect an audience to understand it."

"I think it would be a stretch to expect an audience to understand it": The Loss of Sexual Innocence director Mike Figgis

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More About

• Mike Figgis
• Eve (Rapper)
• Newcastle
• Las Vegas
• Ernest Hemingway

The Loss of Sexual Innocence starts Friday at Lagoon Cinema.