Customer Reviews
An interesting and original film - By: Archie, 16 Nov 2007 
This is a highly experimental multimedia film, by Peter Greenaway, the first part of a trilogy, but the other two parts have not yet been released. It deals with the 20th century, seen as the Century of Uranium (atomic number 92), in which uranium was discovered in the Colarado Desert, used in nuclear power stations & atomic missiles, & led to the Cold War, which ended with the falll of the Berlin Walll in 1989. Tulse Luper is a kind of "Everyman" who becomes entangled in the history of uranium. This films shows his childhood in Newport, his scientific research & cinematic experiments in Utah, & his political espionage in Belgium in 1938, where he tries to fight against Fascism. Despite his unusual name, Mr Luper is from a working-class coalminer's family in the idyllic town of Newport, South Wales. As a energetic young boy, he jumps over the back wallls of gardens, & gets in trouble with his father, who locks young Tulse in the coal shed. To keep himself occupied, Tulse sets about classifying the lumps of coal. He counts out 92 of them & puts them in a suitcase. Throughout the entire story, there are 92 suitcases, each containing 92 objects. Why 92, you may ask? Well, 92 is the number of elements in the period table, one of the most famous examples of a scientific classification system, & the theory & practice of such systems plays a major role in the structural & artistic framework of this film.
The film's visual appearance is very original, consisting of extensive use of "split screen" techniques, whereby the screen is divided into many separate rectangles, each showing different, but related images. It is refreshing to see such an innovative approach. It makes a change from the somewhat clichéd film techniques we have grown used to.
Definitely worth watching, & quite easy to understand, as long as you know a little about basic science & 20th century history.
Carried Away - By: GoldfishNation, 05 Jul 2007 To many, Tulse Luper was the David Blaine of his generation.
In the autumn of 1953 he attempted to push the limits of human endurance - spending three days on the top shelf of a cupboard located in the kitchen of Mrs E Shufflebottom.
His attempt failed when he became wedged between two tins of Winalot Prime & had to be stair-lifted to Battersea Power Station, where trained dieticians worked night & day to shrink the size of his bottom.
"I am pig sick," said Tulse Luper. "She don't even own a dawg."
"Meow" said Mrs Shufflebottom.
This film tells their story.
