Themes: Lost Worlds, Knights and Ladies, Time Sleepers
Main Cast: Pascale Bussières, Nigel Whitmey, Shelley Duvall, Frank Gorshin, Alice Krige
Release Year: 1997
Country: CA
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
Set in a blazing land where the sun ceaselessly shines, this dramatic fantasy examines love's darker aspects. After years of incarceration as a political prisoner, Peter Glahn (Nigel Whitney, who had his name removed from the credits because another actor redubbed his lines) finally returns to Mandragora via ship. During the voyage, he encounters the glamorous Julianna (Pascale Bussieres), and falls deeply in love. Before he can act upon it, the radiant beauty mysteriously disappears. Once home he goes to see his sister Amelia (Shelley Duval) on the family ostrich farm. Poor homely Amelia is pining for the love of snake-in-the-grass Dr. Solti (R.H. Thompson) who is busy controlling the lives of Juliana and Zephyr (Alice Krige), a fisherman's widow. Solti toys with these women, but he is actually in love with a statue of Venus, a magical sculpture that seems strangely drawn towards Zephyr. Continuing frustration causes Amelia's smouldering passion for Solti to erupt into a conflagration of grisly violence. A challenging film from idiosyncratic Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Ian Handford - Art Director, Donna Szoke - Costume Designer, Richard O'Brien Moran - First Assistant Director, Guy Maddin - Director, Reginald Harkema - Editor, Derek Masur - Executive Producer, Charlotte Mickie - Executive Producer, John McCulloch - Composer (Music Score), Rejean Labrie - Production Designer, Michael Marshall - Cinematographer, Richard Findlay - Producer, George Toles - Screenwriter
