THE SECONDS ,BEHIND THE SCENES MAKING

changing lives in a life changing cinematic exorcism - Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 March 2009 FRANKENHEIMER is an essentially paranoid intellectual who likes to question the values of traditional morality in context of the confines of the American dream like in Manchurian candidate ,embroiling it into a nightmarish conspiracy which unfortunately is also the bitter truth in most instances , Seconds is not a genre movie but rather a cult classic which the viewer has to interpret to their own life experiences ,as it is not a statement but rather an overt interrogation into life itself and it has a timeless quality which makes it a contemporary classic for all eras . John Randolph is Hamilton ,a successful aging bored banker and filthy rich with a tolerable marriage and a prominent identity .he is the epitome of the American dream to all obvious perspectives except he is not happy . Hamilton is approached secretively by a firm called the COMPANY who propose to give a new younger identity of his choice so he can live his life again according to his unfulfilled desires and this entails technically killing his present character while he through plastic surgery and analysis and therapy is transformed into a younger dashing tony Wilson [rock Hudson ]. Wilson is a bohemian painter who lives in Malibu and has everything that Hamilton ever dreamt of having ,he develops a relation with a beautiful woman called Nora and partakes in wild parties from lascivious sex orgies at vineyards to excessive drunken stupors, where he starts to divulge the secrets of his past life in reckless intoxicated bouts . . THE COMPANY unfortunately is aware of his discontent and confusion with his present perfectly designed lifestyle and he is under persistent surveillance as his manservant and Nora are employed to spy over him . in the most revealing sequence intellectually Wilson rebels and in contempt of the COMPANY regulations visits his widow as a friend of her deceased husband . the surreal moments where a man talks to his wife and discusses his own life pretending to be a perfect stranger ,while she has no clue she is talking to the man who shared her life intimately, and yet is now a bizarre young handsome man curious about her dead spouse who was not very interesting to her or others as he was more involved within his career and consumerism then humanity or emotional consummation are totally profound and make this a great classic forever. The rest of the movie takes a rather bizarre twist and there is nothing familiar about this experience ,this is grey unpredictable and at times unpleasant art ,shrouded in a fascinating realism . the shocking discovery that Wilson is living in a community of '' born again seconds'' is just as traumatic and distraught to him as it is to the COMPANY ,who rather like to pretend to run a secretive society within a state itself JAMES WONG HOWE photographs in fascinating black and white images with locations which are as rich as the emotional content of every sequence ,and the musical score is just as surreal as the mystical experience of watching this unique drama which opens a wider discussion into the role of the administration and secret societies within a state . the role of state within a state is provoking as the company implies and their omnipotent powers and all violations of law and mocking social morality becomes a satire . the most intelligent question it raises is though who we are and what makes us happy and content and whether desires fulfilled are equivocal to life fulfilled . this movie will change your perspective of life itself and also show ROCK HUDSON as a great natural talent and FRANKENHEIMER AS a brilliant technician as well as a bona fide cinematic intellectual . the almost paranoid mood that pervades the atmospheric drama is chilling yet stimulating and somehow still it evokes an unknown emotion which can be described as intense satisfaction itself . we might never get a chance at seconds but the society of born again seconds answers some philosophical mysteries of life itself which might need to an overwhelming desire to recognize and analyze self -ego. movie was an official entry in Cannes film festival in 1966