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Duke of Burgundy

Directed by Peter Strickland

United Kingdom • In English

Showtimes & Past Screenings

“Strickland’s latest reconfigures the vintage erotic melodrama into something altogether deeper and darker. Taking its title from a rare species of butterfly, The Duke of Burgundy chronicles the increasingly intimate relationship between wealthy amateur lepidopterist Cynthia and her newly hired housekeeper Evelyn. As Cynthia’s demands begin to betray a sadomasochistic streak, Evelyn becomes less a domestic servant than an outright sex slave, submitting to her progressively extreme humiliations with a surprising relish. Strickland demonstrates a marvelous gift for modulating tone, pitching the tenor of his film in a strange, beguiling register somewhere between Buñuel’s Belle de Jour and Losey’s The Servant. By turns kinky, dryly comic, and compellingly surreal, and boasting gorgeous, gothic cinematography . . . a richly immersive sensory experience.”—Toronto Film Festival.

Genres: Erotic Drama

Appears in: 38th Portland International Film Festival

The Northwest Film Center recognizes and honors the Indigenous peoples of this region on whose ancestral lands the museum now stands. These include the Willamette Tumwater, Clackamas, Kathlemet, Molalla, Multnomah and Watlala Chinook Peoples and the Tualatin Kalapuya who today are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and many other Native communities who made their homes along the Columbia River. We also want to recognize that Portland today is a community of many diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, future—and are grateful for their ongoing and vibrant presence.