The Duke of Burgundy
バーガンディー公爵
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Two women, a lepidopterology institute, and a D/s ritual in which the submissive is quietly in charge; the most tender film about kink.
Evelyn studies butterflies and moths under Cynthia, an older lepidopterist who lectures on her research, and works as a maid in Cynthia's house. Each day follows a ritual. Evelyn arrives and rings the bell. Cynthia sets her chores, finds fault with her cleaning and punishes her. The two women are lovers, and the punishments are part of their love.
It gradually becomes clear that Evelyn is the author of the ritual. She writes out the scenes, with the lines Cynthia is to say, and Cynthia performs them in the same way each day. Evelyn finds them exciting. Cynthia, more and more, performs them only to please her. As a birthday present, Cynthia orders a carpenter to build a bed with a drawer beneath it, in which Evelyn could sleep as a punishment; the carpenter says it will take a long time, and Evelyn, disappointed, refuses the gift. Instead she asks to be locked in a trunk at night. Cynthia agrees, but resents the nights apart. She hurts her back moving the trunk and grows self-conscious about her age.
The strain shows. Cynthia accuses Evelyn of polishing another lecturer's boots, which she regards as a betrayal. On Evelyn's birthday, Cynthia makes her bake her own cake, and eats it reclining with her feet resting on Evelyn's face. Evelyn does not want this and says her safe word, 'pinastri'. Cynthia ignores it.
The next time they begin the familiar scene, Cynthia breaks character and cries. Evelyn comforts her and tells her she loves her. Evelyn's written instructions are burned, and together they carry the trunk out of the house. The film ends with Evelyn standing at the door, ringing the bell, as the cycle begins again.
Starring
Sidse Babett Knudsenas Cynthia
An older lepidopterist who plays the stern mistress in the ritual her lover writes, and is tiring of the part.
Cynthia’s story
Cynthia lectures on butterflies and moths, and plays the stern mistress to Evelyn, reading her lines from Evelyn's scripts and repeating the same scene each day. She is tired of the part: she snores, prefers baggy pyjamas and falters when asked for new lines. For Evelyn's birthday she orders a bed with a drawer for her to sleep in; when it cannot be made in time, she agrees to lock Evelyn in a trunk at night, resenting the nights apart and hurting her back. She accuses Evelyn of polishing another lecturer's boots, and on Evelyn's birthday eats cake with her feet on Evelyn's face and ignores her safe word. The next time they begin their scene, she breaks down and cries. Evelyn comforts her, and together they carry the trunk out of the house. Then the bell rings again.
Chiara D'Annaas Evelyn
A younger student of butterflies and moths who plays Cynthia's maid, and who secretly writes every scene they act out.
Evelyn’s story
Evelyn cycles to Cynthia's house each day, rings the bell and plays the maid who is scolded and punished. It is she who writes the scenes, down to Cynthia's lines and how long she is kept waiting at the door, and she wants more. When the bed Cynthia orders for her birthday cannot be made in time, she refuses it and asks to be locked in a trunk at night. On her birthday Cynthia makes her bake her own cake and eats it with her feet on Evelyn's face; Evelyn says her safe word, 'pinastri', and Cynthia ignores it. When Cynthia next breaks down in the middle of a scene, Evelyn comforts her and tells her she loves her. Her scripts are burned, the trunk goes out, and she is at the door again, ringing the bell.
Fatma Mohamedas The Carpenter
The craftswoman Cynthia asks to build a bed with a drawer in which Evelyn could sleep.
Why it matters
The Duke of Burgundy is a film about a BDSM relationship that cares less about the kink than about the work behind it. The dominant partner is performing a script written by the submissive one, and is tiring of the part; the submissive partner gets exactly the rituals she asks for and finds they are not enough. Peter Strickland turns that imbalance into a quiet study of consent, desire and ageing, and the film's one clear breach, a safe word ignored, lands as a real hurt between two people who love each other. The title is the name of a butterfly, and the lectures on butterflies and moths that frame the story mirror the lovers themselves: beauty held still by rules. It screened at the Toronto and London film festivals in 2014 to strongly positive reviews. The question it leaves is how two people keep a shared fantasy alive when one of them has stopped wanting it.