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Movies: The Duke of Burgundy

How can I express the beauty, the ecstasy, of watching a film like The Duke of Burgundy? Director Peter Strickland pulls the ultimate bait-and-switch with this lovely, dreamy love story. Ostensibly an erotic story of a sadomasochistic relationship between two women, Duke has no nudity, very little of what most people would consider "sex", and not a single male character--not even a male extra. Folks who show up to see hot girl-on-girl action will be surprised by this supremely arty film with an extraordinary soundtrack, over-exposed cinematography that recalls both Italian giallo horror films and 70's arthouse porn, and a deeply relatable (for all its bizarreness) love story about what it means to make sacrifices for the sake of a lover's desires.

The film opens on a woman, Evelyn (Chiara D'Anna), biking to Cynthia's (Sidse Babett Knudsen) home, where she is chastised for being late and put to work scrubbing the floors. It becomes apparent that the two are engaging in sadomasochistic play, with Evelyn as the submissive and Cynthia as the dominant. But when the two reenact the the same scene a second time, only this time shown from Cynthia's perspective, we can see that it is in fact Evelyn who is engineering these games, down to the very lines Cynthia says to her. Evelyn gets off on being degraded, but it is Cynthia who struggles with living up to her lover's exacting standards. The film handles this story with genuine humor, such as when the two have a consultation with a woman who creates bondage furniture. This may be the most sophisticated film ever to include the phrase "human toilet".

What's even more interesting about The Duke of Burgundy is the dreamlike fantasy world in which is takes place. I mentioned before that there are no men in this movie, but it goes beyond a simply casting choice. In the world of The Duke of Burgundy, men don't even appear to exist. Likewise, children don't exist. Work or normal jobs don't exist. All the characters appear to be entomologists, or at least moth and butterfly enthusiasts. When Cynthia and Evelyn aren't playing their kinky games at home, they're attending lectures about various types of moths. ("The Duke of Burgundy" is actually the common name of a species of butterfly).

The film is set in the past, but it's not clear exactly when (I'd say early 1960's, based on the clothes, but the decade is besides the point). It's also set somewhere in Europe, but never revealed where. All of these choices are deliberate ones on the part of Strickland, who, by creating a single-gender utopia where there are zero obligations to work and family, strips away all the noise that accompanies conversations and stories about love. It comes down to two people who desperately love each other despite being mismatched in a few big ways. One scene that is both heartbreaking and funny is when Cynthia tries to tell Evelyn how much she loves her, only for Evelyn to ask Cynthia to talk degradingly to her so that Evelyn can get off to her lover's cruel words. Anyone who has accommodated a partner's fantasies, despite not being into them, can relate to this scene, and it shows that in order to make a relationship work, sometimes one must "play along" to bridge the gaps between one and one's partner.

Dedicated cinephiles will, I think, be naturally drawn to The Duke of Burgundy for its style and homage to overripe 1970's Euro arthouse erotica as well as the sheer uniqueness of Strickland's vision. Other viewers, I'm not so sure. While I certainly found the movie entertaining, it takes a lot of patience. Watching The Duke of Burgundy is closer to the experience of visiting an art museum and slowly savoring the works of art. But, like the S&M games Cynthia and Evelyn indulge in, it may simply be that it's not for everyone, but for the right audience it's heaven,

Grade: A+