Internationally renowned pianist Glenn Gould had all the marks of genius – blinding talent, a craving for perfection and absolute bullheadedness. In THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD, director François Girard goes directly to the center of Gould’s ideas, his passions and his music. Using thirty-two elegantly constructed vignelles, which span Gould’s life from age four until his untimely death at age fifty, the film achieves the rare balance between play and conceptual rigor.
Each of the thirty-two selections dramatizes a variation on the theme of Glenn Gould, depicting the many diverse aspects of his life-from artist to financier, humorist to nature-lover, recluse to iconoclast – and the result is a powerful impressionistic mosaic of genius. THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD opened in 1993 and won four Genie Awards by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, including Best Picture and Best Director, as well as a special citation at the 1993 Toronto Film Festival.
“A FASCINATING GUY AND A FASCINATING FILM!” – Gene Siskel
“GOOD AS GOULD!” – Dave Kehr, New York Magazine
“BRILLIANT AND TRANSFIXING!” – Janet Maslin, The New York Times