How Long Is “Deliria”?

Some years ago a friend’s mother couldn’t remember my name and referred to me as Deliria. One afternoon, years later, the film That Hamilton Woman was broadcast on Channel 4 while the other analogue channels were showing the twin towers being hit – with the result that if you changed the channels (as you did) Vivien Leigh’s ethereal face was intercut with images of the disaster. Eventually the broadcast of the film was interrupted – with apologies. Presumably, due to popular demand, the film was shown in its entirety two or three weeks later. By taking a single scene from That Hamilton Woman and overlaying it three times, using delays and changes to density, the result is a musical and visual round exposing the over heightened emotions of Vivien Leigh as she at first whispers for her lover’s return and then runs to him across an ersatz palace and terrace with a barely visible Bay of Naples and Mt Vesuvius smouldering in the background.