House of Knives - Trailer
Channel: Indie Film Trailers
Date: 2019-12-15

Turning their backs on respectable society, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine move to London to live a life of poverty, poetry, and absinthe.

Director: Graham Henderson
Writer: David Harsent
Stars: Jack Johns,  Sam Swainsbury,  Lucy Tregear

House of Knives - Director's Statement
The purpose of making this short film was to tell the story of the French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine and in particular to explain the importance of their connection with the house at No 8 Royal College Street in Camden, where they lived for a few creative and turbulent months in 1873. 

One of the most difficult scenes to pull off was the famous moment when Rimbaud shouted abuse at Verlaine out of the window of No 8 as he returned from Camden market holding a raw fish. The real Verlaine said these words were so insulting that he could not repeat them, and they were the immediate cause of the end of their relationship. The script also remained silent on what these words should be, so we asked Jack Johns, the actor playing Rimbaud, to improvise. He did so with much enthusiasm, turning the air blue with his expletives. However, in the edit, the tide of abuse ran the risk of drawing attention away from the really important thing about the exchange, the effect that it had on Verlaine, who was at the receiving end. We solved the problem by both editing down the abuse and bringing up the modern traffic noise to almost drown out the words. I hope that the effect now is to make the audience identify more with Verlaine as the blood rushes to his ears in fury and mortification.

Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud are two French poets who have made a huge contribution to the world literature. Their relationship is called passionate, disastrous, “wrong.” Paul Verlaine was a man of subtle spiritual organization, easily succumbed to someone else’s influence, and Rimbaud was called a young genius scoundrel. Arthur Rimbaud, the free-spirited French poet whose openly gay lifestyle shocked even the most avant garde artists of London and Paris in the late 19th Century. Whatever it was, but their relationship gave birth to beautiful poems, which are still read by the descendants.

Arthur Rimbaud was born in 1854. Learning was given to Arthur easily, he showed success in rhyme from childhood, but he lacked zeal. The mother did not care at all to impart elementary manners to her son, to pay attention to the appearance. Arthur grew up an absolute slob. The unique talent of writing contrasted sharply with the negligent looks of Rimbaud. 

When Arthur Rimbaud turned 16, he decided to write to Paul Verlaine, at that time already known to the poet. The young man admired Verlaine’s creativity and attached his poems to the letter. To the great surprise of Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine liked his poetry, and he even invited the young man to Paris, paying the way.

Paul Verlaine grew up in completely different conditions, his mother loved him very much, and from childhood he was easily succumbed to someone else’s influence. Already at a young age, he tasted alcohol and hashish. But, what was most frightening for the poet, is the attraction to men. Paul Verlaine believed that this was unnatural. He tried to “heal from this disease,” by tying himself in bonds of marriage. The chosen poet was Mathilde Mauté de Fleurville. Being a 17-year-old girl, she was in Verlaine’s verses. In 1870 they were married, and soon Matilda became pregnant.

In 1871, Arthur Rimbaud appeared at the poet’s door. He looked terrible: disheveled unwashed hair, dirty clothes, a cold look. When he was invited to the table, the provincial poet constantly belched, gurgled, spoke with his mouth open. Matilda was horrified, and Paul looked at the young talent as bewitched. Rimbaud took the poet’s wife as an enemy, and in conversations with Verlaine, he called her not otherwise than “the rat.”

Paul Verlaine introduced Arthur Rimbaud, who was 10 years younger than him, to his circle. Friends did not know how to relate to the poet’s protege. His talent was recognized by all, but the terrible behavior of Rimbaud repelled people.

Arthur Rimbaud had a detrimental effect on Verlaine. If earlier he somehow held back the “demons” inside himself, now they broke free. When Verlaine moved to the side of homosexual love, the images of Minerva and Venus immediately disappeared from his poems. Moreover, Verlaine began to get drunk on a daily basis to unconsciousness. The poet preferred absinth.

In the passionate relationship of the two poets, aggression was constantly present. Once, Arthur wounded Paul with a knife in the thigh and arm. He did not report it to the police. After a while, Verlaine had already shot at Rimbaud, and it ended for him with a 2-year prison sentence. However, Arthur Rimbaud even rejoiced at this turn of events, he became tired of an adult, always drunk lover.