The Inner Life of Martin Frost

Paul Auster fans, and there are many, will instantly recognize the story behind The Inner Life of Martin Frost as a film by one of Auster”s characters in The Book of Illusions. After having finished his fourth novel, author Martin Frost (David Thewlis) decides to take a break in the remote cottage of friends. When he wakes up, he finds a naked young woman (Irène Jacob) beside him. How did she get into his bed? And how does she know his work so well? The event bolsters Martin”s romantic life and literary inspiration: he starts on a new short story on an old typewriter. As the story progresses, however, his mysterious muse develops a serious illness.

Film plays a major role in almost all of Auster”s novels. There are numerous crossovers between his films and his novels, filled as they are with casual meetings, doubles, malleable identities and solitary writers who sometimes even bear the author”s (first) name. The characters in his books often share a common past and have met before. In this way his books and his films form a coherent universe. "Every man is the author of his own life”, one of his characters says – an appropriate quote for The Inner Life of Martin Frost.

My Name is Peter Stillman

EYE screens The Inner Life of Martin Frost together with the VR installation My Name is Peter Stillman, which will be running in EYE's Project Space from 1-10 April. My Name is Peter Stillman draws you into the haunting story of Peter Stillman, the protagonist of The New York Trilogy, Paul Auster”s debut novels. Also screening are Auster”s Smoke (1 and 9 April) and Blue in the Face (3 and 8 April). Jason Wood will talk about Paul Auster as an author, filmmaker and scriptwriter for theatre and VR on 3 April.