The Duke of Burgundy

Instead of love letters, Evelyn writes instructions for her partner Cynthia: Have me wait at least 30 seconds in front of the door, but not longer than 5 minutes.” The two butterfly researchers conduct a BDSM-relationship with strict rituals. But are the power relations really as fixed as they seem? With fragments of the sexploitation movies of the 60s and 70s, Peter Strickland creates a softcore paradise without men that seems outside of both space and time. Surrealist details and a score of hypnotic sounds transcend the genre in aesthetic fashion, while the open perspective on the women’s complex relationship deconstructs it in ideological terms. The film moves toward the formulation of a question: what am I ready to do for love? (Christian Weber) – “It is a story full of sympathy, saturated inmelancholy, upstanding and precise—and in its unusual genre garb, a beautiful and precious piece of contraband.” (Alexandra Seitz, sissy)