Floria(1974)

Experimental filmmaker Roger Jacoby animates his muse, Ondine, as the villainous Scarpia in snippets from Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca." Freely mixing melodramatic gestures from his actors with a ruined soundtrack of static and full-on textural experiments that simulate decayed nitrate film bursting with color or fading to white, Jacoby finds emotional release in repeating Floria Tosca's leap to her death. A visual feast from the former painter who shows a creative command of celluloid, both figural and abstract. - Marilyn Ferdinand