Consisting of a feature-length film (running time, 145 minutes), large-scale sculptural installations, and photographs, DRAWING RESTRAINT 9tells thelove story of a man and a woman coming from different places and meeting on a Japanese whaling ship. It also addresses, via the motif of a modern diesel-run whaler, asymbolic relationship with the evolutionary theory positing that whales evolved from an originally land-bound mammal and the hypothesis that whale oil was a source for modern industry. Barney created a large sculpture out of petroleum jelly, reminiscent of the organic texture of whale blubber.

Throughout his oeuvre, Matthew Barney has always used site and location selectively as a driving force for the narrative itself. Geographical andcultural history play an active role in adding diversity to the story¡¯s structure in DRAWING RESTRAINT 9. Japan being the only nation which still propones whaling on a large scale became a logical backdrop for a story about whale. Also supporting the structure of the narrative, which revolves around the theme of the transformation and rebirth of the body, is the unique formal beauty and eroticism inherent in Japanese traditional culture, embodied in tea ceremony, clothing, and rituals, as well as the ideology of rebirth exemplified by the Ise Shrine, which is reconstructed every two decades. Barney¡¯s choice to posit the story¡¯s protagonists as ¡°Guests¡± expresses both

the artist¡¯s curiosity towards and sense of alienation from this foreign culture. The film begins with a close-up of a woman¡¯s hands neatly
wrapping a present-a prehistory fossil-while her thank-you letter to General MacArthur, who lifted the ban on whaling in order to alleviate the poverty and lack of provision in Japan in the wake of World War II, accompanies the scene as soundtrack.That the letter is sung by an American country music singer reflects the irony in the convergence of Japan and the United States, both at opposite ends of the whaling debate. The first scene is followed by a second one set in Nagasaki where workers are building a white plastic flensing deck.The deck serves as a symbolic place that bridges land and sea. A large quantity of petroleum jelly is delivered with a lavish parade to the harbor and is injected into a mold on the deck. Over the course of several weeks, the petroleum jelly cools, bearing signs of the states of the sea, and this fluid process of hardening signifies the dynamic self-organization of objects. The methods and tools of whaling are used to manipulate the solid jelly. As the Nisshin Maru ship nears the Antarctic Ocean, the story reaches its climax, with the disintegration of the sculpture from its own internal energy, against the backdrop of luminous icebergs.

Around the ship, amas (women divers) discover a piece of ambergris (a kind of mysterious, undigested calculus, excreted by whales, and used in the manufacturing fragrance). It is pulled up on the ship, filling it with fragrance, and gets inserted into the jelly sculpture. This mystifying object, which breathes life energy and embodies the notion of a foreign visitor, is then removed. With this, the mold that surrounds the sculpture is taken appart, and the liberated jelly sculpture slowly disintegrates on the deck.

While this event is transpiring on the deck, inside the cabin, two foreigners fall in love during a tea ceremony. Played by Matthew Barney and Bjok (the internationally-renowned pop musician and the artist¡¯s partner), the two protagonists have embarked separately on the ship as its Guests. They are purified in exotic greetings and rituals and dressed in extravagant wedding costumes made from furs, which allude to their origin as land mammals. Inside the room, they take part in an extremely refined and stylized tea ceremony. As the ship rocks in a storm, the tea ceremony room slowly begins to flood with liquid as if it had turned into a bowl.

As the waves grow rougher, the pair¡¯s desire for each other also grows. They grab knives and start to cut away each other¡¯s lower body. Once their reciprocal dismemberment completed, against the background music of traditional Japanese Noh, glistening tails emerge from their severed lower bodies, and gills appear in their necks. Both characters then transform into whales. The story culminates as the scene of the mutual dismemberment at the height of their love overlaps with the sensual image of the disintegrating sculpture on the deck, and as the jelly inundate the entire ship.

The two whales swim away, as the ship calmly sails amongst the peaceful Antarctic icebergs. On land, another transformation takes place; one side of the deck crumbles, and the other side forms. With this suggestion of the nature¡¯s principle of endless birth and disappearance, the story comes to an end.

Bj?k¡¯s soundtrack plays a crucial role in this film, which consists purely of music and imagery. Incorporating traditional Japanese music into her own, the singer¡¯s composition delivers precise emotional tones at each moment of the film. With minimal spoken dialogues, the film still effectively communicates its narrative stages.