Experimental: The Perfect Human

The Perfect Human is a short experimental film by Jorgen Leth made in 1967. The film shows the perfect human as two human beings, one male and one female both within a 'zoo-like' white space as they fulfill normal human activities such as dressing, eating, sleeping and walking. There is dialogue in the piece composed of a detached voice describing the people to the audience as if they are being viewed by a crowd. This voice; which is done by Leth, continues to talk to the audience posing questions such as 'what is he thinking' in an attempt to remain objective in order to examine the subjects more closely. This objectivity comes across to me as Leth's main focus with this film as he strips the scenery down to a mere white space, described by the narrator as "boundless and radiant with light. It is an empty room. Here are no boundaries. Here is nothing”. This is done in order to provide no distraction from his human subjects and highlight their humanity and simple yet natural behaviour, whislt not becoming subjective or giving anything as way as to the identity of these people. In essense they are a representation of all humans.
The couple seem to be in some sort of experiment, trapped in the confines of the 'boundless room' perhaps a suggestion by Leth that as humans we restrict ourselves rather than being restricted by the world around us. The film is an observation of the human form, it's ambiguity is compounded by Leth's narration yet he gives the audience much to consider, this is especially true as his words lead the audience to reflect on themselves and their behaviour as human beings but also what it is that makes us human in the first place.