I love this film. I saw it twice when it was in theaters and again on Blu-ray with Strickland’s informative commentary. I’m long overdue for a revisit with this and all of his films. I just need to figure out how to catch up with KATALIN VARGA.
I love Strickland so much. One of our best recent filmmakers. In an era where it seems all our films and TV are afraid of passion and sexuality, Strickland brings the heat.
I was struck by how goddamn funny this movie is (along with being sexy and gorgeously crafted). My first Strickland and I've loved everything I've seen since.
This is a film in which people who write about film tend to carefully cut out the parts they like and ignore the rest. But there are random interludes featuring moths buzzing around for a couple minutes. And lectures about Lepidoptery delivered to an audience of female mannequins. Maybe no one else remembers them but I'm pretty sure the scenes happened :)
It's kind of like how when everyone writes about Singin' in the Rain they don't mention there's a 20 minute stylized dance number that destroys the momentum of the film. It's a better movie if you just omit that part
The mannequins were interesting for sure, and I'm not sure what to make of them, but as I wrote in the piece-- if not in great detail-- the moth/butterfly stuff does get integrated into the story on a symbolic level. I think it also establishes the significant gap in age, experience and maturity between Cynthia and Evelyn. Cynthia is the expert, Evelyn the novice. Cynthia's age figures into her ability to keep up with Evelyn's desire, and Evelyn thinks she knows more than she does. There's a bit at one of those moth discussions where Evelyn asks a question intended to belittle the speaker and it backfires on her.
So, I had to go back and skim through the movie to remind myself of this (I prefer Berberian and return to that one more often. I seem to be in the minority on that front). I would have guessed it was a mixture of some humor, a possible homage to Jess Franco whose films he cited as an influence on this one (Succubus has a scene with Mannequins - similar to the taxidermy animal scene in Franco's Count Dracula, but I think it really doesn't work in Count Dracula), and possibly something about the interiority or perceived lack of interiority of the individuals in the audience as they receive the lecture (happening during a lecture on how sound differentiates two completely different species of butterfly).
Googling it, apparently in an interview for In Fabric, it's about ASMR and texture (and apparently influenced by musical performances - at least by the time of In Fabric)
(I mostly just skimmed down to "There’s a really haptic quality to the work, the tactility of the fabric, the tactility of skin, the tactility of the mannequin")
I haven't seen this one since it came out and so can't argue my point effectively, but I seem to recall all the lepidoptery stuff being thematically relevant. Agreed that I'd like to have seen more critics go deeper into that, but I wouldn't say any of it is "random".
One of my favorite moviegoing experiences. I saw it in its original run at a weekday matinee at the Plaza Theater in Atlanta. I loved the movie for itself, but there was a meta quality to my enjoyment as well -- as it unfolded in all its '70s softcore-tinged outre glory, I sat in wonderment and appreciation that, in our brutally efficient capitalistic environment, there was still someone willing to devote the space and time to showing me THIS movie. Nobody got their commercial rent paid via their Duke of Burgundy receipts -- to screen it was an act of movie love, pure and simple.
The Tara has reopened under operation of the Plaza. and the latter is happening to be running Under The Skin next month, thereby allowing me to complete a teenage "blindspot"
Film aside (which I haven’t seen but absolutely must now), that’s a gorgeous, well written review. The three legged sack race metaphor is so perfect, so immediately obvious, that it feels like you must have encountered it before. Great stuff.
Great piece on a *really* distinctive film. I saw it after reading the high praise it got from The Dissolve way back when (maybe Scott also did that review?). Ultimately I didn’t really get the film then, or perhaps was expecting something a bit more formulaic, but reading this has definitely primed me for a re-watch.
Just watched this at a small DC rep theater and loved it. It's hypnotic--there's a patience and care to this movie that other films would run screaming from. Not to mention the horniness...I need to watch more Strickland!
I love this movie, and it won me over to Peter Strickland after a relative personal disappointment of Berberian Sound Studio. It worked me over slowly as I caught on to what kind of story it was telling (and kudos to the writing of this piece, that alludes to that "slow boil" sense of you-the-viewer realizing how this relationship actually operates and how well it fits in the milieu), laughed at its dry wit and yet also felt the pang of compassion for how hard these two women try but often don't succeed at really connecting. It's also a movie that might be a little hard to recommend outside committed cinephiles, because at first blush it looks and seems like a fancy European erotica movie (though I'm not saying it's *not* - not here to yuck anyone's yum - just that that's not really its intent).
I love this film. I saw it twice when it was in theaters and again on Blu-ray with Strickland’s informative commentary. I’m long overdue for a revisit with this and all of his films. I just need to figure out how to catch up with KATALIN VARGA.
Is there an issue with the Artificial Eye DVD and a region free player or are you trying to find a better presentation?
Don’t have a region-free player.
This is maybe my favorite movie of the past decade. I need to revisit it. Incredible soundtrack,hell, even the trailer is perfect.
I love Strickland so much. One of our best recent filmmakers. In an era where it seems all our films and TV are afraid of passion and sexuality, Strickland brings the heat.
I was struck by how goddamn funny this movie is (along with being sexy and gorgeously crafted). My first Strickland and I've loved everything I've seen since.
This is a film in which people who write about film tend to carefully cut out the parts they like and ignore the rest. But there are random interludes featuring moths buzzing around for a couple minutes. And lectures about Lepidoptery delivered to an audience of female mannequins. Maybe no one else remembers them but I'm pretty sure the scenes happened :)
It's kind of like how when everyone writes about Singin' in the Rain they don't mention there's a 20 minute stylized dance number that destroys the momentum of the film. It's a better movie if you just omit that part
Wait, the moths and mannequins are bad?
No they're amazing. I want every movie to feature 180 second moth interludes. Especially The Mothman Prophecies. Big missed opportunity there
The mannequins were interesting for sure, and I'm not sure what to make of them, but as I wrote in the piece-- if not in great detail-- the moth/butterfly stuff does get integrated into the story on a symbolic level. I think it also establishes the significant gap in age, experience and maturity between Cynthia and Evelyn. Cynthia is the expert, Evelyn the novice. Cynthia's age figures into her ability to keep up with Evelyn's desire, and Evelyn thinks she knows more than she does. There's a bit at one of those moth discussions where Evelyn asks a question intended to belittle the speaker and it backfires on her.
So, I had to go back and skim through the movie to remind myself of this (I prefer Berberian and return to that one more often. I seem to be in the minority on that front). I would have guessed it was a mixture of some humor, a possible homage to Jess Franco whose films he cited as an influence on this one (Succubus has a scene with Mannequins - similar to the taxidermy animal scene in Franco's Count Dracula, but I think it really doesn't work in Count Dracula), and possibly something about the interiority or perceived lack of interiority of the individuals in the audience as they receive the lecture (happening during a lecture on how sound differentiates two completely different species of butterfly).
Googling it, apparently in an interview for In Fabric, it's about ASMR and texture (and apparently influenced by musical performances - at least by the time of In Fabric)
https://www.filmink.com.au/mannequins-memories-conversation-peter-strickland/
(I mostly just skimmed down to "There’s a really haptic quality to the work, the tactility of the fabric, the tactility of skin, the tactility of the mannequin")
I haven't seen this one since it came out and so can't argue my point effectively, but I seem to recall all the lepidoptery stuff being thematically relevant. Agreed that I'd like to have seen more critics go deeper into that, but I wouldn't say any of it is "random".
Fine pair of movie fans we are. "I'm not entirely sure I remember this well!" :D
Ha! Agreed - and I really loved this movie at the time, too, making it even worse.
I remember the moth recordings sounding a lot like a vibrator and I remember at least one review at the time commenting on that joke.
One of my favorite moviegoing experiences. I saw it in its original run at a weekday matinee at the Plaza Theater in Atlanta. I loved the movie for itself, but there was a meta quality to my enjoyment as well -- as it unfolded in all its '70s softcore-tinged outre glory, I sat in wonderment and appreciation that, in our brutally efficient capitalistic environment, there was still someone willing to devote the space and time to showing me THIS movie. Nobody got their commercial rent paid via their Duke of Burgundy receipts -- to screen it was an act of movie love, pure and simple.
Fond memories of the Plaza. (And Garden Hills. And Tara. And the High.)
The Tara has reopened under operation of the Plaza. and the latter is happening to be running Under The Skin next month, thereby allowing me to complete a teenage "blindspot"
Film aside (which I haven’t seen but absolutely must now), that’s a gorgeous, well written review. The three legged sack race metaphor is so perfect, so immediately obvious, that it feels like you must have encountered it before. Great stuff.
Thank you, sir. And happy viewing.
Great piece on a *really* distinctive film. I saw it after reading the high praise it got from The Dissolve way back when (maybe Scott also did that review?). Ultimately I didn’t really get the film then, or perhaps was expecting something a bit more formulaic, but reading this has definitely primed me for a re-watch.
Just watched this at a small DC rep theater and loved it. It's hypnotic--there's a patience and care to this movie that other films would run screaming from. Not to mention the horniness...I need to watch more Strickland!
I love this movie, and it won me over to Peter Strickland after a relative personal disappointment of Berberian Sound Studio. It worked me over slowly as I caught on to what kind of story it was telling (and kudos to the writing of this piece, that alludes to that "slow boil" sense of you-the-viewer realizing how this relationship actually operates and how well it fits in the milieu), laughed at its dry wit and yet also felt the pang of compassion for how hard these two women try but often don't succeed at really connecting. It's also a movie that might be a little hard to recommend outside committed cinephiles, because at first blush it looks and seems like a fancy European erotica movie (though I'm not saying it's *not* - not here to yuck anyone's yum - just that that's not really its intent).