(1965)
3
Tom Vick
Hedy re-enacts the famous shoplifting arrest of actress Hedy Lamarr, an event which fascinated Andy Warhol. Lamarr is played by a transvestite, Mario Montez, who begins the film by rising from an operating table after a facelift operation, then embarks on an odyssey of crime and punishment filled with Warhol-ian absurdity and camp. Warhol makes no attempt at verisimilitude: the operating room, store, police station, and Lamarr's apartment are all rooms in his "factory," dressed up with the most minimal props. Hedy is significant because Warhol abandoned his usual practice of placing an unmoving camera in front of the action. Instead he moves it constantly, following Montez from room to room through the Factory. It is also one of the few films for which Warhol served as his own camera operator, and his peculiar presence makes itself felt every time the camera wanders away from the dramatic action to study the walls, ceiling, or whatever other insignificant detail happened to catch his attention.
Hedy on AllMovie
Hedy (1965)
