I have to be honest and up front here. I had some troubles (and I have a hunch I’m not the only one) figuring what the heck Guy Maddin was getting at with The Saddest Music in the World. While I don’t want to take away from the beauty and artistic vision of it, what awaits your perusal below is my attempt at understanding.
The year is 1933 and the place is the Canadian prairie town of Winnipeg. It’s the Depression and Winnipeg is considered the saddest place in the world. Funny, I didn’t think the Depression affected Canada as much as it did its neighbours to the south but I have a feeling that something symbolic about the term ‘depression’ is afoot. To celebrate this dubious distinction, brew mistress Lady Port Huntly (Isabella Rossellini) offers a grand prize of $25,000 to the person who can make the saddest music in all of the world. This brings musicians from the Siam, Germany, Mexico and others to Winnipeg all to vie for the big prize.
Embedded within is a melodrama centered around Huntly, failed sleazebag stage producer Chester Kent (Kids in the Hall alumnus Mark McKinney) and Chester’s family as they deal with repressed memories and hurtful feelings left unchecked.
The Saddest Music in the World is a surreal film that looks like it were shot in the silent era. The edges of the frame glow, the speed is often off slightly and the sets are distinctly artificial. The entire film carries a dreamlike quality, set on a plain of existence that’s real but not quite there. Predominantly shot in black and white, there are select scenes shown in saturated colour, which make them more like memories, something from the past.
And that’s what I think Maddin is dwelling upon. Sadness cannot be gauged or rated. When you’re sad, you’re sad. But there is a difference between a surface sadness and one that is deep rooted. The music competition is simply a stage for a family to air its problems and bring up, if not cope, with the ghosts of the past.
Because Maddin is dabbling in the worlds of dreams and pseudo-realities, the work is open to interpretation. While I never got lost on a whole, there are some scenes that made more sense to me than others. Glass legs filled with beer? Okay, beer is a way to drown one’s sorrows and the legs are replacements for Huntly, the greatest loss in her life. I see a connection, but the actual meaning is not there. I did feel alienated at times, likely a product of being bombarded by a style unlike any I have seen before. It feels like the past, but the themes and structure are very much from today.
Regardless of whether or not I “got” The Saddest Music in the World, I was able to enjoy it for its sheer artistry. The costumes, the sets, the music, the choreography, the dialogue – all are beautiful and from the eye of a genuine vision. What that vision is exactly is as much your guess as it is mine. The Saddest Music in the World is unlike anything I’ve seen in a while but perhaps that is why the feeling of being lost feels so fresh and intriguing.
The Saddest Music in the World Gallery
Trailer
