In a barbaric fantasy sci-fi trip through time, sword-and-sorcery mythology is bent, fractured and gender-swapped by master visionary Bertrand Mandico in his third feature epic. Six lives, six eras, and six deaths mark Conann’s poetic journey through different incarnations and lesbian loves. Guiding Conann through her many lives is Elina Löwensohn (LET THE CORPSES TAN) as Rainer, a Cerberus of many otherworldly dimensions whose paparazzi camera sees all. The perversity of THE WILD BOYS and the hero’s journey of AFTER BLUE (DIRTY PARADISE) come together in this even greater handmade homage — as Mandico ropes in influences as lush as FELLINI SATYRICON, THE NIGHT PORTER, THE HUNGER and Fassbinder’s entire oeuvre to craft a moving portrait of a warrior trying to find her place while outside of space, time, and meaning. An official selection of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, Fantastic Fest, and Sitges.
“Filmed in black and white on 35mm, with splashes of emphatic technicolor, Mandico has created a film that feels as if it was brought to life in the 1970s, discovered on a VHS in a smoke-filled backroom in the 1980s, before being screened in some underground club in the 1990s. It feels scandalous, intimate, and wholly bizarre.” —Maggie Lovitt, Collider