Kisses in the Tunnel – Mirella von Chrupek

photomontage (2021-) based on archival materials from the movie magazines. An ongoing project.

As the film begins to roll, we hear the clatter of the projector and see a train in motion. Inside a compartment, a man and a woman sit reading. When the train enters a tunnel, he turns towards her and kisses her passionately. As they emerge into daylight, they return to their books. This simple scene unfolds in George Albert Smith’s short silent film A Kiss in the Tunnel (1899), capturing one of the first kisses in cinema history.

Kisses have graced the silver screen almost since the dawn of cinema and they have had their ups and downs. In certain eras, censors timed their duration, stopwatch in hand, yet they could never be banished altogether. They are as essential as air, their supply inexhaustible and there are countless ways to portray them: from obviously staged kisses, in which a gallant gentleman clamps his lips onto his partner’s, to shy little kisses that move us with their tenderness. But it is the sensual, lingering, breathless kisses that reign supreme.

Nestled in plush cinema seats, we gaze at the entanglements of enormous lips. Innocent voyeurs, shrouded in darkness, freely watching the frolics of goddesses and gods. What a magnificent spectacle. I am nchanted by these curious phantoms of love, which retain their charm and freshness despite the yellowing paper and the dust that settles on them as the years go by. Step aboard and join me on a journey of nostalgia!