The Duke of Burgundy (Strickland, 2014): Curzon Mayfair, 6pm
58th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (8-19 October 2014) DAY 12
Every
day (from October 8 to October 19) I will be selecting the London
Film Festival choices you have a chance to get tickets for and the
movies you are unlikely to see in
London very soon unless you go to see them at the Festival. Here is the LFF's main website for the general information you need. Don't
worry if some of the recommended films are sold out by the time you read this as there are always
some tickets on offer which go on sale 30 minutes before each
screening. Here is all the information you need about the best way to get tickets.
This film also screens on Thursday 9th and 10th at Odeon West End 2. Full details here.
LFF introduction:
Visually and aurally intoxicating, and exquisitely performed, Peter
Strickland’s (Berberian Sound Studio, Katalin Varga) latest film is to
be relished for both its singular vision and its acute awareness of
cinema heritage. Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen, After the Wedding,
Borgen) and Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna) inhabit an exclusively female world.
Their love for each other is expressed through ritual sado-masochist
role-play. Cynthia, the cool ice queen, seemingly dominates the
obliging, submissive Evelyn. The couple occasionally venture outside the
hermetic world of their relationship, pursuing their shared interest in
entomology and attending talks by the haughty and seductive Dr
Schuller. The relationship begins to unravel however, when Cynthia
starts to suffer from performance fatigue. While it might be Evelyn who
washes the knickers, she also wears the pants. With Cynthia yearning for
something a little more conventional, Evelyn’s obedience gives way to
criticism and provocation, rendering this very specific relationship
strangely universal and mundane. Channelling the early 70s eroticism of
Jess Franco and the ‘passionate agony’ (as Susan Sontag put it) of
Ingmar Bergman’s Persona, Strickland creates a decadent, finely
calibrated universe that is as sensually and cinematically distinctive
as it is funny and true. Featuring dress and lingerie by Andrea Flesch
and perfume by Je Suis Gizella.
Clare Stewart
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