Strictly Strickland
BRITISH DIRECTOR PETER STRICKLAND TALKS EMPIRE THROUGH HIS UTTERLY UNIQUE CAREER
WORDS JOHN NUGENT
THERE IS REALLY nobody like Peter Strickland. The Reading-born writer-director burst onto the scene in 2009 with Katalin Varga and almost immediately carved a cinematic space entirely of his own. He’s crafted atmospheric, surreal, tactile films, all full of sound and fury, food and bodies; and all in some way the product of Strickland’s retro obsessions, sly sense of humour, and uncanny sensibilities. Now, Strickland is getting his first-ever Blu-ray box set, a handsome and comprehensive Curzon-curated compendium, which gathers his five feature films to date —rape-revenge thriller Katalin Varga, sonic horror Berberian Sound Studio, sadomasochist romance The Duke Of Burgundy, retail giallo In Fabric, and culinary comedy Flux Gourmet —together in one package. Alongside those features, there is a glut of the filmmaker’s short films and music videos (many of which have never been publicly released) —essential viewing for dedicated Strick-heads. It is a transaction that will —as In Fabric’s Miss Luckmore (Fatma Mohamed) would put it —validate your paradigm of consumerism. And one that demands an expansive, candid, career-spanning conversation with the boy from Berkshire.
Where did the idea of a box set first come from — did Curzon approach you?
It was Curzon, yeah. I would do it even if it was just two films! No-one’s gonna turn down a box set. It’s a great privilege. For me, it’s mainly about the short films, which I’ve been doing for over 30 years now. They’re almost like a dialogue between my features. I think a lot of directors see short films like primary school: once you graduate, that’s it. It was never the case for me. It’s about trying things out that could not work in a feature film.