16mm film, color, sound, 24 min., USA/Germany, 1998
The film PSYCHIC TEQUILA TAROT is based on an interactive live performance (1996-1998) of the same name, in which Isabell Spengler herself embodied the main figure, illustrating the problem of conformity and working the philosophy of human will into a radical parable: feminine wish fulfillment as talent and sickness.
Taking the form of an episodic road movie, the fictional autobiography of the self-proclaimed fortuneteller Leila unfolds. Having escaped her all too liberal parental home, Leila tries to fill her inner emptiness by projecting the wishes and problems of other people onto herself.
On a trip through California, she invites complete strangers to a free tequila tarot card reading in her car, idealistically attempting to be a reflection of the other person and to behave in a radically “selfless” way. This leads to a symbiotic relationship of mutual exploitation. While for the customers, Leila's excessive spiritual as well as corporal devotion opens up the possibility of having their repressed wishes and impulses reflected, Leila gains an increasingly compressed identity by fulfilling and personifying these wishes. In flashbacks of stories from her childhood Leila provides a glimpse into the development of her convictions and her personality.
cast:
Isabell Spengler, Rainbow Underhill, Marc Reveille, Jeff Libby, Damon Schindler, Debbie Thomas, Kelly Doyle a.o.
produced & directed by Isabell Spengler
book: Isabell Spengler & Christopher Fuelling
cinematography: Terence Mc Nally
gaffers: Anthony Vitro, Bernd Wolk
original score by Marko Pauli
music by Deborah Hurwitz, Nicholas Bussmann & Heiko Gölzer, Grady Cousins
sound mix: Matthias Rusch
