DEATH IN A FRENCH GARDEN   1985
(Péril en la Demeure)
Directed by Michel Deville
101 minutes
In French with English subtitles

This is a slowly unraveling, twisted, elegantly paced and beautifully shot "mystery" that is not only a mystery in its theme but in its essence. In Hollywood films today, directors generally make a film about a so-called "normal world" where suddenly a strange mystery occurs.... which in the end is solved. This film, in contrast, is mysterious in its very nature, connecting it to the mystery of life rather than only to a particular incident. In other words, if you were going to break up the world of cinema into two categories, one being the Steven Spielberg kind, and the other the David Lynch kind, this director definitely falls into the later.

Based on the novel Sur la Terre Comme au Ciel by René Belletto, it focuses on a young teacher, David Aurphet, who agrees to give guitar lessons to Vivianne, the daughter of a wealthy bourgeois couple. Straight away, David finds himself the object of unbridled desire by Vivianne’s mother, Julia. But a few weeks into their passionate love affair, David’s life begins to take a dark and potentially deadly turn. This bizarre and cryptic flick has a deep erotic shiver running through it that is absolutely stunning, and makes it unlike any other movie.

What has happened to cinema? Where is all the wit and cleverness and flexibility that it once exerted? What happened to bold experiments that refused to be standardized? An example like this is a cinematic breeze of fresh air. It is a small, haunting masterpiece which has barely ever been screened outside the borders of France. Directed by Michel Deville (La lectrice).

This will be a high-definition screening.