The Morrigan review – spirit of pagan demon queen unleashed in Irish burial chamber horror

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Archaeologists blunder into an ancient and unwittingly release a vengeful monster – with predictable and conventional results In Irish folklore, the Morrígan is a powerful goddess of death and war. This horror movie imagines her as an actual historical figure: a pagan queen massacred with her followers by Christians. A quick scene at the start of the film shows the dirty deed. The Morrígan’s rage against misogyny has screamed down through the centuries – so it’s a shame the film frames her not as a feminist icon but a highly conventional horror movie nemesis; a malign vengeful female to be crushed and destroyed. There is nothing to punch the air about in the end. Saffron Burrows plays an archaeologist called Fiona who has been repeatedly passed over for tenure at her US university. When Fiona presents her radical theory that the myth of the Morrígan may have a basis in real life, her slippery colleague Jonathan (Jonathan Forbes) is made the lead on the dig. Fiona is forced to bring al...
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A Prince review – queer erotic drama of sexual enlightenment through … gardening

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Pierre Creton’s literary film is about the carnal blossoming of a gardener’s apprentice under the tutelage of a series of older men

This latest film from artist, film-maker, and farmer Pierre Creton evokes a tradition in French erotica in which a youthful protagonist has a series of encounters, providing carnal knowledge and sexual enlightenment as well as intellectual revelation. A Prince follows gardener’s apprentice Pierre-Joseph (Antoine Pirotte), whose love for nature leads him into the arms of two older lovers: Alberto (Vincent Barré), his botany school teacher, and Adrien (Pierre Barray), his employer.

Its literary feel is enhanced by the prioritisation of voiceover above dialogue. The characters’ inner monologues speak, often retrospectively, of transgressive erotic experiences and desires. Accounts of incestuous yearnings are laid over scenes of gardening or age-gap lovemaking, all shot in the same strikingly matter-of-fact fashion. The contrast between the provocative voiceover and the naturalistic cinematography is notable in itself, conveying a resistance to the politics of queer assimilation, which courts acceptance from the heterosexual majority.

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