The Duke of Burgundy (2015)

[K1stpierre]

Discuss

[Jake Gittes]

Tied with Mad Max for my favorite movie of the year so far. Peter Strickland made some waves two years ago with Berberian Sound Studio, and here now he's made his first near-masterpiece, turning what is on the surface a tribute to kinky lesbian erotica of the '70s into a really smart, moving, occasionally hilarious, and - visually and aurally - breathtakingly beautiful take on some crucial pitfalls of long-term relationships and the sacrifices a couple has to make in order to move forward together. If you describe it as a movie about lesbian entomologists who dress like it's the 1800s and seem to be living in some kind of a purely cinematic all-female quasi-Victorian fantasy world somewhere in Eastern Europe, it sounds like a parody of an art film, and I'm sure its audience was limited because of that - and that's a shame, because, save for maybe one sequence near the end, it's completely unpretentious and could be relatable to anyone who has ever had to make compromises in a relationship. And if the Oscars paid any kind of attention to movies like this, it'd land half a dozen nominations just in the technical categories. You can see that from the trailer already.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-xIMBnclyA

[TStechnij]

This was absolutely phenomenal. Technically impeccable and so incredibly well acted especially by Sidse. There is a tinge of creepiness that balances out the sexy and morose. This is so much more than any way I could describe it. The atmosphere is so fantastic and cinematic; it totally engrossed me.

One of the few films this year that I think will only get better with age and more rewatches.

3.5/4

[Goffe]

On 05/08/2015 at 3:36 PM, Jake Gittes said:

and that's a shame, because, save for maybe one sequence near the end, it's completely unpretentious

which sequence are you referring to?

[JohnnyGossamer]

Wow. This one was on my list for after a few favorite critics placed it in their top ten, but I'd been putting it off. Well, girlfriend started it essentially at random when scrolling through my NetFlix queue and, uh, yeah... Pretty incredible. Fascinating direction... Parts Lynch, Polanski, Haneke. What a surreal take on the emotional drain of some relationships. Would make a very compelling double feature with Blue Is The Warmest Color.

 

A-

[The Stingray]

Really liked it, but wasn't blown away like you guys were. In fact, I thought Berberian Sound Studio was better (perhaps due to the subject matter in BSS being more appealing to me). What I dug most about this one was the dreamy atmosphere and the score, as well as the way Strickland utilized different sounds.

 

8/10