V021 (& Columbia 74356): Thirty Two Short Films about Glenn Gould:
The Sound of Genius

Columbia Tristar Home Video, Rombus Media (1993), color, 94:00.
Laserdisc (NTSC): 74356
VHS (NTSC): 74353

Producer: Niv Fichman
Writers: François Girard and Don McKellar
Director: François Girard

Starring Colm Feore as Glenn Gould

Time "Chapter Stops": Description, Background Music
00:00 Start
00:39 01: Opening title
00:59 02: "Aria" (Aria from The Goldberg Variations, Johann Sebastian Bach). GG walking across a frozen lake to musical accompaniment.
03:19 03: "Lake Simcoe" (overture from Tristan and Isolde, Richard Wagner). Dramatization of GG's childhood and youth. Voiceover narration by GG, dialogue of actors, and Wagner all play simultaneously.
07:40 04: "45 Seconds and a Chair" (Two-part Invention No. 13 from Two and Three-Part Inventions, Johann Sebastian Bach). Actor portraying GG sits in chair and stares into camera lens as Bach invention plays.
08:33 05: Interview with Bruno Monsaingeon, musician and collaborator (in French, with English subtitles).
10:28 06: "Gould Meets Gould" (Prelude from English Suite No. 5, Johann Sebastian Bach). Interviewer and GG conduct an interview on stage in semi-darkness as Bach plays in background; implication is that both men are GG.
15:10 07: "Hamburg" (Allegro, Sonata No. 13, Ludwig van Beethoven). GG in Hamburg hotel suite. Plays record of his Beethoven performance for German cleaning lady.cc
19:28 08: "Variation in C Minor" (Variation from 32 Variations in C Minor, Ludwig van Beethoven). Black and white sonograph while piece plays.
20:07 09: "Practice" (Allegro, Sonata No. 17 ("The Tempest"), Ludwig van Beethoven). GG in hotel room, studying a score. Piece plays in GG's mind, he conducts as he walks around, singing to himself here and there.
23:44 10: "The L.A. Concert". Dramatization of GG walking to stage for his last concert.
27:47 11: "CD318" (Prelude No. 2 from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Vol. I, Johann Sebastian Bach). Camera on interior of piano as piece plays. At end of piece, we see workman covering up piano, turning out lights in hall.
31:29 12: Interview with Yehudi Menuhin, violinist. In French with English subtitles.
33:52 13: "Passion According to Gould" (Gigue from English Suite No. 2, Johann Sebastian Bach). We see GG in the recording studio, listening to a take of one of his own performances. He walks around conducting in the air, almost dancing. Switch back and forth to 3 men in recording booth goofing around during playback.
37:12 14: "Opus 1" (Opus No. 1, Glenn Gould). We see a string quartet performing the work.
40:58      15: "Crossed Paths" (Adagio from Sonata in B Minor Op. 5, Richard Strauss). Interview with various people who knew GG as piece plays in background.
47:06 End of Side One
  Side Two
00:00 16: "Truck Stop". GG driving. "Downtown" playing on the radio. GG overhears several conversations in a cafe.
03:38 17: The Idea of North". We see GG from above in a recording studio, conducting the air, looking at a pile of typed documents – as if he were conducting the conversation we hear. At the end, GG speaks into the radio microphone, announcing his show "The Idea of North".
07:04 18: "Solitude" (Andantino from Sonatina No. 2, Jean Sibelius). GG gives an interview to unseen interviewer as music plays in background, while standing on frozen lake.
09:56 19: "Questions with No Answers" (Prelude from English Suite No. 2, Johann Sebastian Bach). We see a reporter interviewing GG from a phone booth as music plays in the background. We see several interviewers, of various ages and sexes, asking him questions.
14:31 20: "A Letter" (Variation No. 19 from The Goldberg Variations, Johann Sebastian Bach). Voice-over of GG saying he is in love; we see the letter he has written about this.
15:14 21: "Gould Meets McLaren" (Fugue No. 14 from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Vol. I, Johann Sebastian Bach). Animation of spheres floating through clouds, "reproducing", as music plays. Eventually process reverses itself and spheres melt back into one.
18:30 22: "The Tip" (Precipitati from Sonata No. 7, Sergei Prokofiev). We see several financial traders talking on the phone as music plays. One of the traders is speaking to GG. We see GG talking about the market to employees of the restaurant where he's eating.
22:22 23: "Personal Ad" ("Désir" from Two Pieces, Op. 57, Alexander Scriabin). GG types and reads aloud a personal ad he has written as music plays in background.
24:19 24: "Pills" (Sehr lebhaft from Sonata No. 3, Paul Hindemith). We see pictures of drugs, and hear GG describing their effects as music plays in the background.
26:48 25: Interview with Margaret Pacsu, friend. In English.
28:02 26: "Diary of One Day" (Gigue from Suite for Piano, op. 25, Arnold Schönberg). We see equations, then x-ray photos of heart beating, someone playing piano, then more numbers and fractions (blood pressure numbers) as music plays; can also hear heartbeats in the background.
30:10 27: "Motel Wawa" (Ruhig bewegte Viertel from Sonata No. 1, Paul Hindemith). GG gives a telephone interview as music plays. We can hear questions of interviewer. GG talks about his supernatural experiences.
34:01 28: "Forty-Nine" (Leicht zart from Six Little Pieces for Piano, Arnold Schönberg). GG calls a friend from a phone booth. He talks about Schönberg's superstitions regarding numbers and his death.
35:32 29: Interview with Jessie Greig, cousin. In English.
37:52 30: "Leaving" (Sarabande from French Suite No. 1, Johann Sebastian Bach). GG drives in rain, in dark, as music plays. He stops and calls Jessie from a phone booth, and points out Bach tune playing on the radio his own performance. At the end, the radio announcers tells of GG's death at ago 50.
40:22 31: "Voyager" (Prelude in D Minor from Nine Little Preludes, Johann Sebastian Bach). Pictures of Voyager taking off as music plays.
41:12 32: "Aria" (Prelude No. 1 from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Vol. I, Johann Sebastian Bach). GG walks into the distance across frozen lake. Voiceover tells how one of the messages sent up on the Voyager was Bach's Prelude No. 1 from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Vol. I, playing in the background, as performed by GG.
43:41 33: End Credits (Contrapunctus No. 9 from The Art of the Fugue, Johann Sebastian Bach). Organ plays as credits run.
46:50 End