The Duke of Burgundy

Evelyn, an amateur lepidopterist in her early thirties, cycles to the house of an orthopterist called Cynthia where she undertakes various household chores. Cynthia is around fifteen years older than Evelyn. Her cold and unscrupulous conduct belies her elegance, yet Evelyn tolerates the ill-treatment. In between various excursions to study butterflies and moths, Evelyn returns to the house where Cynthia subjects her to increasingly humiliating treatment. The tasks Evelyn has to perform become increasingly intimate, bordering on degrading, but she never protests. Cynthia and Evelyn love each other. Day after day, the couple act out a simple ritual that ends in Evelyn's punishment, but Cynthia yearns for a more conventional relationship. Evelyn's obsession quickly becomes an addiction that pushes their relationship to breaking point.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Peter Strickland
Cinematography: Nic Knowland
Editing: Matyas Fekete
Sound: Rob Entwistle, Martin Pavey
Music: Cat’s Eyes
Actors: Sidse Babett Knudsen (Cynthia), Chiara D’Anna (Evelyn), Fatma Mohamed (carpenter)
Production: Rook Films, UK
Producers: Andy Starke
Co-production: Film4 & BFI
Costumes: Andrea Flesch
Production Design: Pater Sparrow
Format: DCP Color
Production Country: UK
Production Year: 2014
Duration: 106
Contact: Protagonist Pictures, UKT. +44 20 7734 9000info@protagonistpictures.comwww.protagonistpictures.com

Peter Strickland

British director Peter Strickland was born in 1973 and began directing short films in the early 1990s. After a long hiatus from filmmaking during which he created culinary soundscapes with The Sonic Catering Band, he returned to film in the early 2000s and made his first feature, Katalin Varga, in 2009. Alongside further short and feature films, he has also written radio plays and has made a concert film for Björk, which he co-directed with Nick Fenton.

Filmography

2004 A Metaphysical Education (short)
2005 Berberian Sound Studio (short)
2009 Katalin Varga
2012 Berberian Sound Studio
2014 The Duke of Burgundy
2017 Cobblers’ Lot (short)
2018 In Fabric
2019 GUO4 (short)
2020 Cold Meridian (short)
2022 Blank Narcissus (Passion of the Swamp) (short)
2022 Flux Gourmet