A lot of fun.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Many years ago, I took a college film/literature/art class co-taught by a marvelous English professor/filmmaker and an art professor who was also a gifted modern artist. The entire experience proved enlightening and just plain delightful, despite a handful of redneck ignoramuses. One of the most captivating, intriguing films we viewed during that class was Eaux d'artifice. I adore water gardens, such as the ones I had already toured at Longwood and Chatsworth. Long a student of history, I felt fascinated watching this rather small woman in 18th century garb waft about the sumptuous foliage and water arrangements amid the splendor of Tivoli and the d'Este estate. Vivaldi's Winter provided the perfect soundtrack. Thirty years on, I recollect this incredible film with the greatest pleasure. The photography remains breathtaking, even filtered through my memory banks. We also viewed Anger's Magick Lantern Cycle, which simply confirmed my estimation of Anger's genius. His use of imagination in exploring history and eroticism through the framework of the arts also stimulated my own imagination. This film, as well as Anger's other work, certainly bear exploration. Sit back and let the beauty of Tivoli and the mystery of its diminutive guest waft over you.

The short films of Kenneth Anger are certainly NOT for the casual film goer! The best way to describe them is avant-garde--and often make little sense, as they are not meant to be shown to the masses. Some are incredibly artistic--like filmed work of art. Some are really cheaply made and definitely look it. Regardless, they are a challenge to watch and I very strongly recommend you see them with his commentary activated. So why would I see these shorts? Well, in a recent interview I noticed that John Waters credits Anger for much of his inspiration. And, since I have seen all the films of Waters that are available (a couple very early ones aren't), it seems natural I'd give Anger's films a try. This and four other reviews are best on the DVD "Films of Kenneth Anger: Volume 1".I notice that one reviewer gave this film a 1 and called it the worst of Anger's films. While I can really understand someone not liking his work (it is a very acquired taste), I can't see attacking this film in particular, as it is one of the loveliest and most technically amazing shorts of the age. While I do NOT generally like art films, this one is amazing.Much of the reason I was so impressed with this film was as Anger described it in the commentary track, I realized just how difficult the film was to get it to look the way it did. To give the film a wonderful blue luminous quality, he actually filmed the short using black & white film shot through a red filter. Then, he had the result developed using color stock! To make the scenery at Tivoli's water garden look bigger, he used a midget as his actress! And, to get the water to cascade just right, he also used varying speeds with the camera. I was quite impressed that a film maker who was not at all "Hollywood" but an avant-garde film maker would know to do this. Additionally, the use of Vivaldi's "Winter" from "The Four Seasons" was perfectly timed to the film and made the whole thing a treat to see.If you are looking for an art film, it doesn't get a lot better than this.

So far as I've seen, Kenneth Anger has kept mainly to stage-like productions of silent films with a lot of art concepts that appeal to me. This one is so far the one I like the most. Anger shoots in blue-tinted black and white again, this time in a water-sculpture park in Italy.Eaux D'Artifice, Anger explains, is a pun on "Feux D'Artifice" which means "firework." Most of the shots in this film deal predominantly with light as it refracts through the water, in many cases making images that are very resemblant to fireworks. Eaux D'Artifice could also in a way mean "Water Sculpture", which is often what Anger builds this film around.Anger's choice of a protagonist was a very good one. Her size does indeed make the park look bigger and more fantastic, and I think this is Anger's most effective creation of imaginary and dreamlike realms. This movie is very reminiscent of fantasy book covers and paintings that seem to somehow attract many people by a sense of serene mysticism and magical perplexity. Somehow this film reaches to an internal need for magic and alternate worlds, which I feel is very related to our obsession with dreams.--PolarisDiB

A stunning water garden is the empyrean setting for this short film, one of the director's strongest works. The ceaseless motion of liquid in an elaborate fountain-system is given close study in high-contrast black and white...jets, streams and droplets dance madly to classical music as the water becomes seemingly enlivened with a zoetic personality. The mood shifts with the music's dramatic rise-and-fall, being somber and wintry one moment, majestic and powerful the next. Intermittently, a shadowy figure in period costume moves hurriedly through the scenery, adding even further mystique to the proceedings. Mesmerizing in its organic beauty...a small masterwork. 9/10