Peter Strickland
In fabric

A psychedelic film to say the least. A horror. It could be described as Lynchian. There are no haunted houses, no monsters or masked serial killer men with chainsaws dismembering bodies in a blood orgy, no cursed phone calls or tapes... There's "only" a red dress size 36.

A 2018 film, with a disorienting setting, a vintage mix of the '70s/'80s/'90s, a shopping mall with clerks dressed in black dresses and hairstyles from another era, one in particular speaks in such emotional gibberish to convince that that is exactly the dress the protagonist needs... (and that was enough for me to miss an episode of "Una pezza di Lundini".) But let's go in order. The film is divided into two stories, the first more detailed, the second seems faster and you already know what will happen, but inexplicably you are mesmerized and keep watching. Perhaps it's also due to the shots and the soundtrack by Cavern of Anti-Matter (from the height of my ignorance: who are these? Do they deserve further exploration?).

The plot in brief

Picture a woman, a bank teller, divorced, with a teenage son, who is with an older woman who not only models for his artworks but practically lives with them (Gwendoline Christie or, for those who have seen Game of Thrones, Brienne). Since the ex-husband has moved on, she puts aside the idea of getting back with him and responds to lonely hearts ads in the newspaper, the old-fashioned kind, not email badoo or tinder, by sending handwritten letters describing herself and setting up dates, with real attachments, real printed photos, tangible passport photos. A man replies to her, setting a date at a Greek restaurant. How could the protagonist not go to the mall to take a look since it's sale season? Well, as it's evident, the woman buys the red dress size 36 which is the only one they have in the store and it magically fits her perfectly. After wearing it, she notices a rash on her chest... What could it be? Needless to say, this is "the beginning of the end" for the woman: a series of incidents follow, including a washing machine going haywire...

Picture a man, a washing machine technician (could it be a coincidence?), who goes to the Greek restaurant (another coincidence?) and orders a kebab (but shouldn't it be called gyros? Oh well, fundamentally they look the same) and is then led by other men towards... his bachelor party! And wouldn't his friends have prepared for him, besides a colossal drunkenness, a women's red dress? (What about nights out? The strippers?) Wouldn't this dress cause him a rash on his chest? And wouldn't the fiancée try the same red dress size 36, marveling at how it could also fit him and also getting a rash on her chest?

Too many questions in my mind, the most recurring one is "what the heck am I watching? Why am I doing this to myself?"

Thanks rai4, thanks to you I will need to catch up on Lundini on raiplay.