Memory: The Origins of Alien

The documentary investigates how Alien came about. Its starting point is a draft screenplay: the text Dan O'Bannon wrote and could not sell to anyone for years. The film examines his notes, his drawings and what he read. Then it moves to H. R. Giger's designs. At the centre is a single scene: the chest bursting. The documentary describes in detail how that scene was prepared, how much the actors were told and what happened on set. It also looks for its sources; Greek mythology, Egyptian iconography and a painting by Francis Bacon. Alexandre O. Philippe directs. The writer Ronald Shusett, the production designer Roger Christian, the producer Ivor Powell and the editor Terry Rawlings are among those speaking. It was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. O'Bannon died in 2009; his wife speaks in the film and the writer's archive is used at this depth for the first time. Its method is opening one work layer by layer; the director used a similar method in his work on other films. The documentary does not speak with Ridley Scott; the narrative focuses largely on the writing and design stages. Photographs taken on set and unused footage are used widely. Its limit is scope; the narrative gives a very long stretch to a single scene and does not enter the rest of the film. Who it is for: viewers who like Alien and documentaries about cinema. Who it is not for: it is closed to anyone who does not know the film, the structure is academic, and the subject narrow.