The Duke of Burgundy

The Duke of Burgundy offers a decidedly more sophisticated spectacle than you would expect from a tribute to the sexploitation films of Jesús Franco that follows a pair of masochistic lesbian lepidopterists. It is actually a subtle relationship study that contemplates the compromises that we are willing to make and how much of our comfort we are willing to give up because of the roles that we play in order to please our partners. What do we want more, for the person we love to be happy or for them to be with us? ___ During the first few minutes, we see the curt communication between two women who may not know each other at all and may be the lady of the house and her maid. Cynthia and Evelyn actually know each other well enough to be aware of what each other desires. Their cohabitation has taken the form of a ritualised replay of a limited number of situations. Emotional tension arises from slight variations in the repeating scenes, which are at one point exciting and at another funny or sad depending on the changing context and their similarity raises doubts with respect to the time sequence of the shots. Strickland plays with the changing of roles and slight shifts of emphasis, while exploring the thin line separating the erotic from the dull. The originally potentially exciting sadomasochistic games of dominance and submission are turned into a routine that makes the individual days blend together for both the protagonists and the viewer. ___ Cracks gradually appear in the encyclopaedia relationship, whose roles are as clearly divided as the ubiquitous butterflies are classified. As the rules are broken, the film’s polished style and narrative begin to change. The strict cohesiveness is displaced by greater formalistic indiscipline. It’s as if the director has lost control of the film. But that is not the case at all. He intentionally abandons discipline in order to point out to us that we are watching a film that, like a relationship, follows certain formulas in the interest of greater understanding. ___ The limitations of the fictional world enable Strickland to motivate the characters’ behaviour almost exclusively in relation to the erotic and to focus all attention on the perversity of power games involving sex. In essence, he created an experimental laboratory in which he can study the behaviour of two paired-off human females under pressure. Similarly as in Fincher’s Gone Girl, in The Duke of Burgundy a basic condition for maintaining a long-term relationship is the willingness to come to terms with and forgive the other for who he or she really is. The film’s ambiguous ending may mark a retreat from the positions laid out and the conclusion of a mutually beneficial agreement, as well as the beginning of a new cycle that resolves nothing. ___ In the tradition of the good old European art films, The Duke of Burgundy doesn’t simplify anything, push any agenda or attempt to oblige us. The collage of various styles and genres does not serve exclusively to tell a story, but to a large extent also serves to create a unique atmosphere at the boundary between reality and dreams, not unlike the atmosphere of Buñuel’s Belle de Jour. The feeling that one or the other of the women, to whose perspective the film is bound throughout, is leaving her body is amplified by the frequent shots of reflections of the women’s faces in windows and mirrors. The soundtrack and the soporifically slow pace of the narrative are also hypnotic. Furthermore, the discontinuous sequencing of the scenes evokes the impression that the protagonists move freely through time and space. This is perhaps due to their unique nature, which stimulates the senses, or perhaps because they are caught in a spiral of replaying the same scenarios again and again. ___ Regardless of how much our efforts to create the perfect relationship resemble a sadomasochistic psychosexual melodrama, we are still actors in a comedy. The Duke of Burgundy says this (and much more) so captivatingly that it took me a couple of hours to come back to reality from its world of scented lingerie, soft skin and delicious chocolate cakes. 85% (21/04/2015) (moins) (plus)