Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

This award-winning film presents a compilation of 32 insights into the famous piano prodigy Glenn Gould. The form is inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Gould’s muchacclaimed initial recording. The 32 short films or vignettes are a mixture of documentary shorts containing interviews with people who knew him, recreations of scenes from Gould’s life with actor Colm Feore as Gould, and various original ideas, defying any of the usual constraints of narrative or chronology. Using this multifaceted structure, director François Girard achieves complete immersion into a multi-faceted man: from his taste for ketchup, tranquilizers, arrowroot cookies and Petula Clark, to his overwhelming talent and perfectionism, his notorious night-time phone calls with friends. Gould is revealed as a hypochondriac, a stock exchange speculator, humorist and nature lover. This film offers a surprising and entertaining encounter with the piano genius. (DOK.fest München)