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| Peter Strickland at EIFF 2012 |
Described as a maverick of modern British cinema Reading born Peter
Strickland made his debut feature film in 2006. This low budget rural revenge
drama Katalin Varga was filmed over a
17-day period in the Hungarian speaking part of the Romanian region of
Transylvania; the project was completed for £28000. His next film had its World
Premiere at the Edinburgh
International Film Festival in June 2012. Berberian Sound Studio is a very nostalgic look
at a world before digital recording devices and striped bare the mechanics of
the old horror analogue film studios that would commandeer all sorts of every
day items to make some very gruesome noises, including an array of garden
produce like melons, cabbages and radishes! A film to be honest I had to see
twice to appreciate! He followed this with a concert film that he co- directed
and edited, Bjork: Biophila Live was
filmed at the Alexandra Palace in Wood Green London in September 2013 and
featured the Icelandic singer/songwriter[1]
performing tracks from her recent tour.
Which brings us to Mr Strickland’s latest work and this weeks Robert
Burns Centre Film Theatre Film Club screening The Duke of Burgundy[2]
(2014).
Shot in Hungary, Strickland’s latest movie is set in an
enchanting pastoral world of butterflies and country houses, populated by women.
(No men are to be seen anywhere in this movie). It is without doubt a
relationship drama, albeit a sadomasochistic one and focuses on a submissive
simmering love affair between Cynthia, a beautiful sophisticated woman and
Evelyn, the younger of the two who acts as Cynthia’s maid carrying out tasks
and being punished when she regularly does not complete them to her mistresses
high standards. These punishments include being used as a human toilet. Into this atmospheric situation comes the
carpenter played by Fatma Mohamed[3]
who specialises in made to measure items to intensify transgressive sexual
pleasure and measures Evelyn for a bed box, a special gift from Cynthia for the
younger woman’s birthday.
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| Sidse Babett Knudsen as Cynthia. |
The question quickly arises, who is actually getting
pleasure in this relationship? At times I think your find it difficult to tell.
I would agree with the Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw when he opines that The Duke of Burgundy proves that erotic
cinema can have genuine substance. Although the narrative is pretty static it’s
the ‘simmering undercurrents that are so curiously affecting’[4].
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| Chiara D'Anna as Evelyn. |
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| Farma Mohamed as The Carpenter. |
Similar in cinematic style to Berberian Sound Studio, which is not surprising as Strickland uses the same
cinematographer Nicholas Knowland. It’s a very good movie to look at, beautifully
photographed putting you in mind of Euro porn movie’s of the seventies with its
soft focus and bizarre imaginary, and has an intriguing story line which you
will either love or hate, but it is important that you view this drama with a
completely open mind and bring to it no preconceived prejudices.
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| Just one of the beautiful settings that Nicholas Knowland captures with his camera. |
The star of this film is Sidse Babett Knudsen, who you will
recognise as the Scottish First Ministers favourite TV female politician
Birgitte Nyborg the Prime Minister of Denmark in the award winning series Borgen. She plays Cynthia, rarely off
the screen and holding your attention at all times, a really wonderful sensual
actress who portrayal is one of the main reasons for making sure you see this
movie. The Italian actress Chiara D’Anna who Strickland used previously in
Berberian Sound Studio plays Evelyn. This is by far the best of Strickland’s
feature films to date and certainly one of the most interesting and captivating
films I’ve seen this year: don’t miss a chance to see this wonderfully sexual
and erotically charged movie.
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