Tuesday 9 August 2022 at 7pm
The Elizabeth Picture Theatre
Earwig, Lucile Hadžihalilović, 2021, 114m
Somewhere in Europe, mid-20th century. Albert is employed to look after Mia, a girl whose teeth must be laboriously made from ice each day. Mia never leaves the apartment but remains cloistered in its darkness until one day Albert is instructed that he must prepare the child to leave. A mesmerising fable of long-repressed secrets and awakening memories.
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s third feature and her first in English, Earwig continues her rich creation of suggestive worlds. While her previous features—Innocence and Evolution—were filmed from the perspective of children, finding their way through mysterious societies, Earwig inverts this structure to explore the power (and trauma) of the guardian and educator. An oneiric and sensual film, filled with redolent textures, Earwig loops its way through uncanny interlocking images and rippling memories.
To mark Hadžihalilović’s latest film, Container director John Edmond and film scholar Alison Taylor have edited a dossier on her films for Senses of Cinema available here.
Free to all members with membership available online or at the Elizabeth box office.
With thanks to Lucile Hadžihalilović and Petit Films
Unrated 18+