Have you ever admired a piece of furniture so much that you wanted to be it? That’s the basic plot of By Design, directed by Amanda Kramer. While the story sometimes overindulgently feeds into its own quirkiness, the underlying themes give By Design a foundation worth studying. The film is led by an entrancing Juliette Lewis and a magnetic Mamoudou Athie, who steals the spotlight in every scene. With strong leads and a strange concept, By Design quietly explores ideas of desire, obsession, and the objectification of women.
Out window-shopping with friends one day, Camille (Lewis) is suddenly mesmerized by a chair at an artisan furniture gallery. She becomes obsessed with owning the chair and returns the next day to buy it. When she’s met with a “SOLD” sign smacked onto her object of desire, Camille sits in the chair and switches places with it. Her soul is now in the chair while Camille’s lifeless body stagnates.
What ensues is a Lynchian traipse by Camille’s friends to track down the chair and revive her body from its stupor, spliced with an intimate journey between the chair’s owner, Olivier (Athie), and his new piece of sentient furniture. The former scenario provides the comedic backings of the film with Irene (Robin Tunney) and Lisa (Samantha Mathis) comforting Camille as if nothing’s wrong — taking the time to gossip about each other and rant about their lives as they prop up her lifeless form against a bedpost; the latter scenes provide the meat of the story as well as beauty, art, and soul.
With striking lighting, minimalist set pieces, and mysterious background dancers, By Design often feels like theater. Especially in the scenes where Olivier dances around and on the chair, creating an odd love story that works more than it should, between a man and his chair. Finding chemistry with an inanimate scene partner is a testament to Athie’s acting chops.
The cast of By Design enhances the otherworldliness with an array of unique faces, moving bodies, and an unforgettable voice. The film features Udo Kier in one of his final film roles. Known for his piercing blue eyes and eccentric mannerisms, Kier plays to type as the enigmatic designer of the coveted chair. He fits perfectly into this offbeat, askew world. However, it was a surprise to hear such a familiar voice as the narrator. In a rare role, Melanie Griffith lends her ethereal vocal texture to the film, enveloping the story in a fuzzy yet comforting haze. When By Design repeatedly goes off the rails, it feels as if Griffith gently guides us back through her girlish intonations and poetic narration.
By Design doesn’t just go off the rails; it flips the rails on its head and calls it art. The film “goes there” with the chair motif — from everyone’s inexplicable fascination with an ordinary wooden chair to Camille’s metamorphosis into it to Olivier making love to it. What lies beneath the text of the plot is a commentary on objectification and the covetous nature of desire.
As for representing female objectification, a woman turning into a chair might feel a bit on the nose. However, Kramer doesn’t hammer home the objectification but lets the transformation speak for itself. What does it mean that Camille desires to be turned into a chair? Is the longing for objectification imposed on us by society? Camille would not have discovered her desire if she weren’t in a high-end store, shopping with friends. By Design explores how socially influenced consumerism and late-stage capitalism are inexplicably intertwined with objectification. When we become synonymous with the objects we desire and covet, we ourselves turn into those very objects, blurring the line between being and owning.
There is some truth, however, in how Camille feels more herself as the chair than she ever did in her human form. Similarly, Olivier is happier with the chair than with any other partner. While the other characters vapidly covet the chair — mainly when they realize that they cannot possess it — these two discover something deeper. Kramer argues that even in the crevices of capitalism, the quirks of humanity lie dormant, waiting to be awoken by those willing to question the eccentricities of our strange, materialistic world.
Review Courtesy of Kasey Dunifer
Feature Image Credit to Music Box Films via IMDB