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Movie poster: Zorns Lemma (1970)
🎬 Movie

Zorns Lemma

1970 · 60 min Documentary
6.3 / 10 · TMDB

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.

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📋 Film Details

Year 1970
Country United States of America
Genre Documentary
Director Hollis Frampton
Runtime 60 min.
Rating TMDB: 6.3/10 (31 votes)

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🎬 MovieFinder's Take

Hollis Frampton constructs the film as a formal experiment, relying on Zorn's lemma and the alphabet's structure. It explores the relationship between language, image, and time, using editing to create a rhythmic and conceptual pattern.

Those who tire of narrative convention will find a rigorous, mesmerizing work of pure cinema. What lingers after viewing is the sense of time itself being parsed and rearranged. — MovieFinder Editorial

Director: Hollis Frampton

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Watch in complete silence, with focused attention, as a visual lecture or meditation.

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