In Fabric (2018)

September 16, 2024 10:08 AM

[TRAILER] Following the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences, this Peter Strickland film is, at turns, chilling, surreal, hilarious, and inscrutable.

Starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hayley Squires, Leo Bill, Julian Barratt, Steve Oram, Gwendoline Christie, Barry Adamson, Jaygann Ayeh, Richard Bremmer, Terry Bird, Fatma Mohamed.

Written and directed by Peter Strickland Produced by Andy Starke for Rook Films/BFI/BBC Films/Headgear Films/Metrol Technology/Twickenham Studios. Released in the US by A24 Films. Cinematography by Ari Wegner. Edited by Matyas Fekete. Music by Cavern of Anti-Matter (a project of Tim Gane from Stereolab).

92% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, but with a jarringly lower popcorn meter reading of 53%.

Currently streaming in the US on Kanopy and Amazon Prime. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (9 comments total)

Fatma Mohamed steals the show as she always does in these Strickland joints... "A purchase on the horizon, the hesitation in your voice, soon to be an echo in the spheres of retail."
posted by remembrancer at 10:15 AM on September 16 [1 favorite]

Strickland is wild because he plants little thematic flags then moves on, often to increasingly less obvious and more surreal notes.

Fashion retail is manipulation... Sure, but people also imprint on their clothes if you think about it, which then change hands and that's weird and intimate. Plus, clothes are emblematic of our personal status, our job, etc. But also, jobs are bullshit and true believers at a corporation are essentially a cult. BUT ALSO...

And yeah, Fatma Mohamed is the best part.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:23 AM on September 16 [4 favorites]

I always think of this as a pandemic watch for me, but it was just right before. Still, I associate it strongly with that time, which is when my movie obsession really started to take hold (because what else was there to do but watch movies?).

This is delightful and weird in all the best ways. I mean, there's a mannequin sex scene/ritual (and is it wrong I wanted that to be weirder?). It takes the silly concept of "cursed dress" and makes it into art. Also, that dress is gorgeous so I don't blame anyone for wanting to wear it.

I may have bought this on Blu-ray even before I was finished watching the movie.

It's not a movie for everyone (I mentioned the mannequin sex scene) but you probably know if this movie is for you.
posted by edencosmic at 2:34 PM on September 16 [1 favorite]

Certainly a hoot and a holler!
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:43 PM on September 16

there's a mannequin sex scene/ritual (and is it wrong I wanted that to be weirder?)

Peter Strickland also wanted it to be weirder.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:10 PM on September 16

Also, because of my spouse Comrade Doll, I have to point out that Fatma Mohamed is Romanian, and from Cluj, the same city as CD is.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:24 PM on September 16

I remember reading that interview with Stickland after I watched the movie!

I kind of go back and forth on his movies but when he lands, I'm into it.

(I will probably give Flux Gourmet a try this weekend.)
posted by edencosmic at 5:03 PM on September 16

There's a gorgeous new UK Blu Ray box set of all of his features (and a bunch of his shorts) out via Curzon. It features a new restoration of Katalin Varga and that one is a mostly unheralded stunner. It's more straightforward than his later stuff but focused like a laser beam, searing, amazingly well framed and shot, and with his amazing control of sound already in full evidence. I hope that streams soon so I can share it with you guys.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:41 PM on September 16 [2 favorites]

This was definitely more weird than scary, feeling often like a parody of giallo horror movies, but that scene with the washing machine falling apart was some of the most viscerally upsetting cinema I can recall seeing recently.
posted by subocoyne at 8:49 AM on September 21 [1 favorite]