ELECTRIC MALADY
★★★
OUT 1 MARCH / CERT TBC / 84 MINS
DIRECTOR Marie Lidén
PARTICIPANTS William Hendeberg
With her feature documentary debut, Swedish-born filmmaker Marie Lidén wants to bring a misunderstood condition to your attention. Known as ‘electrosensitivity’, it is a self-diagnosis believed to have no scientific basis despite its sufferers experiencing pain when exposed to electromagnetic radiation. Lidén’s mother had this condition, and so does William, who lives in a remote Swedish cabin using makeshift therapy, including covering himself in layers of fabric. The effect is ghost-like and Lidén uses this image to craft a strange kind of folk horror. There’s something slightly disturbing about depicting a medical condition through genre tropes, yet Lidén at least gives William a voice, where others might be dismissive.