The Extinct World of Gloves

The gloves in Jiří Bárta’s 1982 animation become metaphors for people. In the film’s six episodes told through “found” film footage, gloves assume roles as diverse as policeman, dictator, war victim, lascivious hedonist, adulterous mistress, her cavalier and her dissatisfied husband. The humour and poignancy of  The Extinct World of Gloves derives not only from the well-observed typology of the glove characters Bárta presents, but also from the sophisticated body-language upon which their performances are chiefly based.