This complex and puzzling French drama walks the fine wavering line between the fictional and the very real as it tells the tale of a strangely erotic event in the life of a little girl and the musings of a schizophrenic woman. Also involved is an enigmatic spouse who prepares a surprise for a burglar.
Director: Catherine Binet. AKA The Games of Countess Dolingen
Writers: Catherine Binet, Bram Stoker (short story “Dracula’s Guest”), Unica Zürn (novel).
Stars: Michael Lonsdale, Carol Kane, Katia Wastchenko, Marina Vlady , Emmanuelle Riva, Roberto Plate, Marilu Marini, Robert Stephens, Marucha Bo, Antoine Binet, Raoul Escari, Tobie Schumer, Carine Toly, Nathalie Goldnadel, François Mouren-Provensal.
Cinematographer: William Lubtchansky.
Composer: Carlos D’Alessio.
thank you
Binet’s first independent feature film is exceptional in French film history. With its uncanny atmosphere, this visually exquisite study of female erotic fantasy was largely inspired by the short story “Dunkler Frühling” (Dark Spring) by the German poet Unica Zürn, whom Binet very much admired. In three stories woven together in various ways, she tells of the crime of one man (Michael Lonsdale), the unfulfilled love of a young girl and the fate of a neglected wife (Carol Kane). The writer Georges Perec, Binet’s partner of the time, produced the film.