Mano Destra
{{short description|1986 BDSM art film by Cleo Übelmann}}
{{about|the film|the musical notation, "mano destra"|Glossary of musical terminology|other uses|Destra (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Mano Destra
| image =
| caption =
| director = Cleo Übelmann
| producer =
| writer = Cleo Übelmann
| starring = Cleo Übelmann
Unknown model
| music =
| cinematography =
| editing =
| distributor =
| released = {{film date|1986|||Switzerland|df=yes}}
| runtime = 53 minutes
| country = Switzerland
| language = Italian
}}
Mano Destra (Italian for "right hand") is a 1986 Italian-language Swiss art film written, directed by and starring Cleo Übelmann. In black and white, Mano Destra is a study of lesbian erotic objectification which depicts a woman tying up another woman in a lengthy act of consensual bondage.
Images from the film were later published in 1988 as part of a book, The Dominas - Mano Destra by the Cleo Übelmann-Group.{{Cite book|last=Uebelmann|first=Cleo|title=The Dominas - Mano Destra|publisher=Verlag Claudia Gehrke|year=1986|isbn=3887690389|location=Tübingen}}
Accolades
In Women and the New German Cinema, Julia Knight describes it as a film which explores the liberating possibilities of sadomasochism, subverting audience expectations of what sadomasochism is like.{{Cite book|last=Knight|first=Julia|title=Women and the new German cinema|date=1992|publisher=Verso|isbn=0-86091-352-X|location=London|oclc=25412660|pages=166–168}} In New Queer Cinema, B. Ruby Rich described it as "deserving of instant cult status".{{Cite book|last=Rich, B. Ruby.|title=New queer cinema : the director's cut|date=26 March 2013|isbn=978-0-8223-5411-6|location=Durham|oclc=818416587|page=24}}
In The Pleasure Threshold: Looking at Lesbian Pornography on Film, Cherry Smyth states that its imagery is "beyond sex", and that "like being offered an ice-cold, luscious fruit drink on a hot day, which you are forbidden to taste, this film encapsulates desire as death, as nothingness, and yet utter completeness".{{Cite journal|last=Smyth|first=Cherry|date=Spring 1990|title=The Pleasure Threshold: Looking at Lesbian Pornography on Film|journal=Feminist Review|issue=34|pages=152–159|doi=10.2307/1395314|jstor=1395314}}{{Cite book|last=Collective|first=The Feminist Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qnmWtSrdXTAC&q=mano+destra+review&pg=PT318|title=Feminist Review: Issue 34: Perverse Politics|date=2005-07-18|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-94034-9|language=en}}
The director Peter Strickland has cited the film as a favourite{{Cite web|title=All voters and votes: The 30 Best LGBT Films of All Time|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/all-voters-votes-30-best-lgbt-films-all-time|access-date=2020-08-15|website=British Film Institute|language=en}} and one of his sources of inspiration for his film The Duke of Burgundy.{{Cite web|title=Peter Strickland: six films that fed into The Duke of Burgundy|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/peter-strickland-duke-burgundy-influences|access-date=2020-08-15|website=British Film Institute|language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Cherry Smyth. The Pleasure Threshold: Looking at Lesbian Pornography on Film. Feminist Review, No. 34, Perverse Politics: Lesbian Issues (Spring, 1990), pp. 152–159 {{doi|10.2307/1395314}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120214170552/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/522339 Entry for Mano Destra at the British Film Institute film database]
- {{IMDb title|id=0994837|title=Mano Destra}}
- [https://lux.org.uk/work/mano-destra Entry for Mano Destra at the film's UK distributor]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mano Destra}}
Category:Lesbian-related films
Category:Swiss LGBTQ-related films
Category:1980s LGBTQ-related drama films
{{LGBT-drama-film-stub}}
{{Switzerland-film-stub}}
Category:1986 LGBTQ-related films