Strickland is a sensory filmmaker. He is less interested in dialogue than in texture . The sound design is extraordinary: the whisper of a velvet glove, the click of a metal buckle, the hypnotic thrum of a moth’s wings against a glass jar. The cinematography (by Nicholas D. Knowland) is lush and anachronistic, full of deep, saturated reds and golds, giving the film the look of a 1970s European softcore art film, but without any actual nudity or explicit sex.
But for those willing to surrender to its humid, moth-dusted atmosphere, it is a profound masterpiece. It is a film about how love is a performance, how devotion requires labor, and how the most intimate act in the world is not sex, but asking your partner to truly understand what you need—even when what you need is to be punished for forgetting to wash the floors. The Duke Of Burgundy
Sidse Babett Knudsen (best known for Borgen ) is a marvel of micro-expression. As Cynthia, she is the reluctant dominatrix. She doesn’t want to punish Evelyn; she wants to read about butterflies. Watching Knudsen switch from stern cruelty to exhausted, loving tenderness in a single glance is a masterclass in acting. Strickland is a sensory filmmaker