Tuesday, 12 July 2022 at 7pm
The Elizabeth Picture Theatre
Flux Gourmet, Peter Strickland, 2022, 111m
An absurdist comedy by auteur Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio, The Duke of Burgundy, In Fabric) that delves further into his obsessive kinks with food, sensual recordings, ‘70s filmmaking and art. Berlinale 2022
At an institute run by the overpowering Jan (Gwendoline Christie) and devoted to culinary and alimentary performance, a collective led by Elle di Elle (Fatma Mohamed, in role perfectly created to exploit her tics and comic timing) finds themselves embroiled in power struggles, artistic vendettas and gastrointestinal disorders in a dream setting for Peter Strickland’s increasing turn to comedy.
Flux Gourmet imagines a parallel world in which art and performance art are appreciated and taken with the utmost seriousness. Institutions are well funded, the ethics of creation are carefully attended to, and residences are highly competitive and subjected to much discussion. It is also, like the progressive rock of the ‘70s, open to shameless parody of This is Spinal Tap. The deep pleasure of Flux Gourmet is its sincere desire to have its cake and eat it to. His imagined world is carefully realised, its dialogue marked by lived experience of the scene, the collective’s performances cut through in their savagery and commit to sound, and yet all is to be equally watched with a delighted grin.
Free to all members with membership available online or at The Elizabeth box office.
With thanks to Peter Strickland and Arcadia Films.
Unrated 15+