poe426 Review of Stereo

Stereo (1969)

Psychochemistry 101- No talking aloud: Cronenberg's first experimental steps...

[10/10 · 6 July 2010]

STEREO is the first of David Cronenberg's two "psychosexual studies" (the other being the follow-up, CRIMES OF THE FUTURE) and also features the malleable Ron Mlodzik in the lead (here playing the cloaked and mysterious aphrodesiast, "Dr. Stringfellow"). He arrives at the Canadian Academy For Erotic Inquiry, where "human social cybernetics" is practiced. Their motto is: "Love conquers all." Eight "category A" subjects have undergone experimental brain surgery that has rendered them "Telepathists." Like CRIMES OF THE FUTURE, STEREO was shot sans sound, with narration (the "parapsychological experimental gestalt" observations of Dr. Stringfellow) added later: "Electromorphological dependency results in reinforcement withdrawal" when the object of focus is gone- whereupon, brain tissue DESTRUCTS. He interacts with one subject (who has voluntarily had his larynx speech centers removed) by sharing his pacifier (the next best thing to "symbiotic telepathic cohesion," one assumes). "Is abstract, logical thought even possible without language...?" It turns out that Negative Thinking is the Positive way to protect oneself between "attuned" people; unlike SCANNERS, the STEREO redux, where every thought of every passerby is "picked up," here the telepathy must be a "mutual" interaction. "Phenomenological refinement" is the ultimate goal (telepathic communes are suggested). "Omnisexuality" is one possible outgrowth: "a fully three-dimensional sexuality" (as opposed to "monosexuality" or "bisexuality"); group groping is explored. A telepath, he concludes, is the prototype of three-dimensional man... although sometimes a candy bar is just a candy bar... We'll just have to wait, though, until the "electroencephalographic data gets to be evaluated." "Art is the tree of Life," Cronenberg once said in regards to his biohorror approach to film-making: "Science is the tree of Death." STEREO is a fascinating piece of work.