It is this short film that catapults Lynne Sachs and positions her as one of the first feminist filmmakers of experimental cinema. Beware of her beautiful hair, the only finery that she shows off, when she catches a young man with it she does not let him go easily. With a unique sensibility and poetic vision, Lynne Sachs is an American filmmaker who challenges the conventions of experimental cinema.
Through her works, she explores themes such as identity, memory and family, creating intimate and emotional pieces that invite reflection. Her distinctive style and commitment to innovation have made her a leading figure in the world of independent film. In this review I will talk about one of the most significant shorts of her career: A Biography of Lilith.
And I will speak of it as a maximum expression of semantics. I met Lilith in my last year of high school, at a Catholic school. My approach to religion had been limited to wearing a skirt on Sunday mass until I was 7 years old. My dad stopped believing in institutions and I stopped believing in God. My interest in other beliefs was not above average, but everything changed when I heard her name. I discovered, then, that if God were a woman, then it would be her. In the sexual act in which Lilith demands to get on top, Adam does not allow it and she flees to the Red Sea.
She meets Lucifer, gives him wings and God gives her an opportunity to return, under the same conditions. Lilith chooses her freedom and, presumably, she is the one who disguises herself as the snake. As part of her punishment, she is condemned to be the infertile woman. Lilith becomes a fable, the monster who sleeps under the bed of adulterers and impious people, sometimes lulling the crib of a newborn.
She is stripped of her own history. Lilith does not appear in The Bible, and yet she exists in the Catholic imagination. Today, Lilith is one of the greatest symbols of the feminist movement. We carry her in her chest and she burns inside us stronger than ever. It no longer appears only in intellectualism, nor only in books of canonical literature.
