Mai

Synopsis

An affectionate film portrait of an irrepressible "eccentric", Mai Finglass, who makes you question the sanity of conformity.

Born in India around 1890 from Irish-Persian parents, Mai Finglass as a young woman taught on the Himalayan mountains, and was influenced by such radical educationalists as Annie Bessant, Madame Blavatsky, Madame Montessouri and Gandhi, whom she met. She educated her three children at home, walked out of her two marriages, and in her eighties took a job cleaning shops in London’s Portobello road as a way of supplementing her state pension, in order to be near her beloved antique dolls, which she was buying on HP. Being an obsessive collector, Mai’s house in Elgin Avenue was filled with her treasures to the point where the doors were permanently jammed, and she herself lived in a rented house.

A lapsed Catholic and eventually a committed Anarchist, Mai combined her contradictions as easily as her collections. Invaluable Victorian china dolls shared her affection with cheap plastic ones; stuffed Pekinese dogs and ivory miniatures piled up with bits of string and yellowing newspapers. She had her own definition of cleanliness. Feminist by her strong, independent lifestyle and convictions, Mai nevertheless maintained her Victorian shynesses, and only allowed a woman to witness and film her nightly ritual of brushing her waist long grey hair.

The film was four years in the making and was eventually cut into an impressionistic collage of moments and thoughts in brief "cameo" scenes, partly because Mai’s quixotic lifestyle didn’t lend itself to film continuity, but also because stylistically it best reflects her multifarious personality, vitality and eclectic philosophy of life.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

1975

Year of production

1974

Subjects

Psychology; Sociology

Keywords

conformity; individuality; social psychology; eccentricity

Distribution Formats

Type

Film

Format

16mm

Availability

Hire

Type

VHS

Format

PAL

Price

£10.00 (+p&p)

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

30 minutes

Year

2003

Distributor

Name

Amber Films

Web

http://www.amber-online.com External site opens in new window

Phone

0191 232 2000

Fax

0191 232 3217

Address

5 Side
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 3JE