In an age when intellectualism is either ridiculed as anti-American or trivialized by preening pop-culture sound biters, recalling the life of Gertrude Stein is like a hurricane of fresh air. For the first half of the 20th century, Stein was at the epicenter of Western intellectual activity, and her apartment in Paris was a magnet for the greatest writers, philosophers, painters, statesmen, filmmakers, and raconteurs of the day.
Gertrude Stein: When This You See, Remember Me is a video that lovingly celebrates this amazing force of human nature. As a writer, Stein's avant-garde turns of phrase delighted and perplexed those who came across her poetry, essays, and opera. As an art collector, she championed rising talents such as the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso. A feminist before the term feminist existed, she pioneered the public debate on equal rights for women. And in her long and loving relationship with Alice B. Toklas, Stein was open and proud of her lesbianism in an age when homosexuality was a criminal offense.
With rare photographs and newsreel footage, plus the only radio recording Stein ever made, this marvelous documentary creates a potpourri spiced by the likes of T. S. Eliot, Jean Cocteau, and Ernest Hemingway.
Gertrude Stein: When This You See, Remember Me: US$39.95. Meridian Video Corp.: +1 (310) 231 1350.
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