A beautiful English country house, a May-September lesbian couple, bondage, beratings, flowerbeds and moth wings. Writer/director Peter Strickland’s third feature gets away with lush erotic vibes without nudity. That’s because for these two women, a session in which the sub is “forced” to polish her domme’s shoes or hand-wash her undergarments counts as a sex scene. This is a good film because it’s so dreamy. It’s a great story because it’s so funny. In the ideal S&M relationship, both the dominant one and the submissive one each get their own sexy kicks from their unique role, but what if the sub is more dedicated to it than the domme? What if the sub is one who writes the script and makes the demands—and then pouts if it doesn’t go well?
“Beat me, insult me and tie me up—and do it right this time. Your performance last night was lacking.”
Strickland gracefully takes us through the looking glass. He respects Sidse Babett Knudsen’s somber reflection as the older of the two, a forty-something scholar of butterflies and moths, who has back pain and a fading interest in S&M role-playing, but none of the humor of the situation is lost here, either. Chiara D’Anna is Strickland’s comedy star, almost a kinky Carole Lombard. She lives to be humiliated, but she doesn’t hate herself. She’s downright demanding, assertive and unapologetic about her taste for masochism. She’s a headcase, but so are most of us when it comes to sex. This film delivers the dysfunction with moody cinematography and a sensual acid-folk music score.