---
title: "The Duke of Burgundy"
year: 2015
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-duke-of-burgundy"
fi1m_score: 84
critics_score: 78
critics_reviews: 24
published: "2026-09-16T13:39:53.467761+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-16T13:39:54.538337+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Duke of Burgundy (2015)

Directed by Peter Strickland · 1h 44m · Drama, Romance

**Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 78 from 24 reviews

*In a sentence:* Even in a house devoted to sexual fantasy, someone has to do all the work

> Peter Strickland’s tender, dryly funny romance understands how tiring it can be to fulfil a lover’s fantasies. Sidse Babett Knudsen makes that effort moving, though the repeated rituals sometimes test our patience as well as hers.

## Synopsis

In a gothic villa in the countryside, Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen) takes the commanding part in sexual rituals with Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna), who plays the submissive. Around them is an all-female community of butterfly and moth specialists, including Dr. Fraxini (Eugenia Caruso). The couple’s days revolve around insect studies and elaborate games of punishment and obedience. Evelyn wants the encounters to follow her fantasies closely; Cynthia wants to please her but finds the demands increasingly difficult. As they repeat their routines, each woman has different ideas about how their time together should be spent.

## Review

*The Duke of Burgundy* is a funny, patient romance about the effort of giving a lover what she wants, and we recommend it with one reservation about its pace. Peter Strickland borrows the secluded setting and elaborate sexual rituals of older European erotica, then pays close attention to how exhausting those rituals can become. Cynthia and Evelyn have a shared life organised around insects and domination. The butterflies and moths are unusual; the problem of mismatched appetites is easy enough to recognise.

Cynthia, played by Sidse Babett Knudsen, has the commanding role, while Chiara D’Anna’s Evelyn submits with a commitment that can itself become demanding. We were moved by Cynthia’s effort to keep playing the severe lover. Sidse Babett Knudsen makes her reluctance visible without suggesting that her affection has disappeared, which is why the role-playing begins to hurt. Chiara D’Anna gives Evelyn’s desires enough conviction that we can understand the pressure without treating her as a joke. Neither performance asks us to pick the reasonable woman and dismiss the other.

Nic Knowland’s soft-focus countryside gives the lovers a setting that seems removed from ordinary working life. Inside the gothic villa, Pater Sparrow’s production design makes the couple’s elaborate routines look entirely at home, which helps the comedy: nobody appears to have noticed how peculiar any of this is. The all-female community of insect specialists extends that impression beyond the couple. Peter Strickland lets us accept its rules without stopping to explain how such a place came to exist.

Andrea Flesch’s costumes make dressing for the role part of the effort involved in pleasing a partner. The music by Faris Badwan and Rachel Zeffira encourages us to linger in this secluded place, and its seductive mood initially makes the repetition welcome. The care spent on clothes, rooms and sound is pleasurable in itself. It also gives the actors something to resist: the characters’ fatigue can disturb an atmosphere otherwise arranged for pleasure.

Matyas Fekete’s editing makes the repeated encounters useful, inviting us to notice how much effort goes into reproducing the same experience. Familiarity gradually allows irritation and disappointment to become more apparent. There is a limit to what that can achieve, and the middle stretches beyond it. We have understood the strain on Cynthia before the film has finished demonstrating it, so some repetitions add duration without adding much feeling. At 104 minutes, this is not a long film, but its unhurried pace occasionally feels like an obligation to remain entranced.

The writing is kinder and funnier than the premise may suggest. Peter Strickland finds comedy in the practical difficulty of making a fantasy happen repeatedly, without assuming that unusual desires make the people who have them ridiculous. That matters in a film borrowing so much from 1960s and 1970s European erotic cinema, where elaborate style could easily become the entire attraction. Here the performances keep returning us to a recognisable question: how much should someone do for a lover before asking for something different?

The lack of nudity is worth knowing, especially if the premise has suggested a more explicit evening. The interest lies in watching these women negotiate what they want, and in the discomfort when the pleasure is unevenly shared. We would allow the film its slow passages for the attention it gives that difficulty. Choose it for a romance in which being devoted to someone does not make keeping them happy any easier.

*Fi1m score 84, published 16 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics respond warmly to Peter Strickland’s erotic relationship drama, finding tenderness and dry humour in its rituals of dominance and submission. Praise centres on the lead performances, particularly Sidse Babett Knudsen’s controlled expression of emotional strain, and on the care given to cinematography, music and sound. The reviews repeatedly credit the film with looking beyond sexual role-play to the compromises and frustrations of sustaining a relationship.

The spread runs from enthusiasm to isolated rejection, with broad agreement on the craft but less certainty about the emotional substance. The Skinny finds warmth and a distinctive atmosphere while noting stagey dialogue and languid pacing. The New Yorker offers the clearest dissent, admiring the retro setting but finding the erotic psychology flimsy and the encounters unsexy. Most critics instead find the stylisation supports a persuasive, sometimes funny account of intimacy.

### Reviews we read (24)

- **Little White Lies**, Katherine McLaughlin (4/5/5): Strickland’s sumptuous all-female S&M fable is his greatest film to date, an unconventional love story that explores the shifting nature of long-term relationships through a couple’s fetish for butterflies and role-play. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-duke-of-burgundy)
- **The AV Club**, Mike D'Angelo (A): The critic calls it one of the most incisive and empathetic films about what it means to love another person, disguised as salacious midnight-movie fare with no nudity. The dynamic between the two leads, where the ostensibly submissive character exerts control, and the theme of compromise in relationships are singled out. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-duke-of-burgundy-is-a-beautiful-love-story-disguise-1798182485)
- **Empire**, Kim Newman (90/100, inferred): The film is a deadpan comedy of manners and an affecting study of a struggling relationship, as well as a stylish essay in the wilfully perverse. It delivers an immensely rewarding, amusing, wise, melancholy and involving experience, with standout performances from the leads. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/duke-burgundy-review/)
- **IndieWire**, Nikola Grozdanovic (90/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as sumptuous, surreal, and audaciously superb, an exotic and self-indulgent work that hypnotizes with its style, soundtrack, cinematography, and emotional vigor. The master-class performance by Sidse Babett Knudsen as Cynthia is highlighted for its controlled, deeply emotional quality. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-peter-stricklands-the-duke-of-burgundy-is-the-stuff-dreams-are-made-of-267890/)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): Peter Strickland’s beautifully shot, highly atmospheric pastiche of 1970s European sleaze is a delight. The film is an S&M love story that is smarter and jollier than most, with meticulously refined style and a joyous awareness of its own preposterousness. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/22/the-duke-of-burgundy-sidse-babett-knudsen-peter-strickland-chiara-danna-erotica)
- **The Times**, Kate Muir (90/100, inferred): This is an elegant, witty, mysterious piece of bedroom philosophy and a thinking person’s Fifty Shades of Grey. Strickland’s latest lunacy is a wonderfully strange cinematic mouthful set in a gothic villa where only women exist and most are bluestocking lepidopterists with exotic sexual tastes. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/the-duke-of-burgundy-the-thinking-persons-fifty-shades-of-grey-8j85nncfcbp)
- **Variety**, Scott Foundas (90/100, inferred): Strickland delivers a striking, singular tribute to 1960s-70s Euro erotica that transcends pastiche with a sensuous, slyly funny portrayal of a sadomasochistic affair between two lesbian entomologists. [Read](https://variety.com/2014/film/festivals/film-review-the-duke-of-burgundy-1201331373/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Leslie Felperin (85/100, inferred): The critic calls the film visually ravishing, emotionally wise, and kinky, praising it as a delight and perfect companion to Strickland’s previous work. The richly layered performances, especially from Sidse Babett Knudsen, reveal an intricate architecture of emotional co-dependence, with humor and nuanced sound design singled out. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/duke-burgundy-toronto-review-730976/)
- **Evening Standard**, David Sexton (80/100, inferred): This is a charming, romantic and touching S&M yarn that serves as the perfect antidote to Fifty Shades of Grey, showing how difficult it can be to make fantasy work in a relationship. It is both funny and a loving homage to an antique genre of soft-core porn, with no men or nudity. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-duke-of-burgundy-film-review-10059336.html)
- **Time Out**, Joshua Rothkopf (4/5): Strickland’s absorbing S&M passion play between two women starts as kinky Eurotrash pastiche but reveals the end of their affair through repeated seduction games in a lushly naughty 1970s style. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-duke-of-burgundy)
- **Film Comment**, Jonathan Romney (70/100, inferred): The film is an extended game with expectations around domination-and-submission role-play and the moviegoer’s assumptions in general. It is a claustrophobic two-hander about love, obsession, performance, and lepidoptery that pays homage to Sixties/Seventies Euro-erotica. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/the-duke-of-burgundy-peter-strickland-review/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Sheri Linden (70/100, inferred): Strickland crafts a mesmerizing mood piece and a fascinating portrait of a relationship through ritual, role-play and compromise. The lead performances, especially Knudsen's as the reluctant sadist, are compelling. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-duke-of-burgundy-review-20150123-story.html)
- **Screen Daily** (70/100, inferred): Strickland deconstructs 1970s continental soft porn to explore a sado-masochistic lesbian relationship challenged by the gap between fantasy and reality, creating an odd, original and beguiling work that is impeccably crafted. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/the-duke-of-burgundy/5077204.article)
- **Sight and Sound**, Kim Newman (70/100, inferred): The film is a phantasmagoric pastiche of 1970s Euro sex-horror that studies the stresses and power shifts in a perfect relationship through repeated sadomasochistic role-play scenes between two women in an all-female world of moth studies. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/drama-week-duke-burgundy)
- **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (70/100, inferred): The film is a unique Sapphic S&M lepidoptery-themed psychological romance that pays slavish homage to old exploitation movies. It explores the sexual practices and domestic routines of two women in a lush, ritual-driven relationship. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/movies/the-duke-of-burgundy-is-an-erotic-hothouse-flower.html)
- **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (40/100, inferred): What appears to be abuse is an elaborate erotic ritual between a lesbian couple; the director creates a sumptuous retro setting but the erotic psychology is flimsy and the film is as sexy as a chess game. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/duke-burgundy-2)
- **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (90/100, inferred): Strickland's film is hailed as a sumptuous, surreal, and emotionally intense work blending style, atmosphere, and deep relational dynamics between two women. The critic praises the performances, cinematography, score, and overall hypnotic immersion as a standout achievement. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/tiff-review-peter-stricklands-the-duke-of-burgundy-is-a-surreal-sublime-knock-out-20140910/)
- **NME**, Dan Brightmore (4/5): The film is a mesmerising portrayal of human relationships that affords equal space to lustful and emotional elements of desire in a soft-focus rural setting devoid of men. It is a darkly comic erotic drama inspired by cult ’70s horror films. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-various-artists-15942-318516)
- **Consequence** (75/100, inferred): The critic highlights how the film thoughtfully depicts a dominant-submissive relationship with passion and honesty, contrasting it favorably with Fifty Shades of Grey, and praises its analogue, organic visuals and attention to intimate details. [Read](https://consequence.net/2015/03/film-review-the-duke-of-burgundy/)
- **Den of Geek**, Ryan Lambie (70/100, inferred): The film is a quietly hilarious and unusually restrained study of an unusual love affair that is beautifully shot and aurally mesmerising. Strickland observes the characters without judgment in this filmmaker’s film full of geometric butterfly images. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/lff-the-duke-of-burgundy-review/)
- **Eye for Film**, Andrew Robertson (70/100, inferred): The film is described as delicate, constructed, and poised, with meticulous craft in sound, costume, and visuals evoking a stylized European world of lepidopterists and ritualized intimacy. The critic singles out its technical precision and emotional authenticity in depicting shifting control in a relationship. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-duke-of-burgundy-2014-film-review-by-andrew-robertson)
- **HeyUGuys**, Gary Green (70/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's exploration of a complex lesbian relationship involving dominance and submission, highlighting how one partner loses herself in trying to fulfill the other's desires. The emotional depth and nuanced portrayal of love versus lust are singled out as moving and beautifully rendered. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/sex-destroys-loss-self-duke-burgundy/)
- **Paste**, Tim Grierson (8.0): The critic praises the film's hypnotic, erotic exploration of a couple's relationship through role-play and repetition, noting its subversion of expectations around S&M and its beautiful, puzzle-like structure. It singles out the clever opening and the way it externalizes psychological elements through the setting for praise. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/the-duke-of-burgundy-2014-tiff-review)
- **The Skinny**, John Nugent (★★★): Strickland follows up Berberian Sound Studio with something warmer and sweeter though no less strange, reframing an S&M premise as a tender love story that grapples with the logistics of a submissive love affair. It has magisterial cinematography and an atmosphere all of its own despite stagey dialogue and languid pacing. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-duke-of-burgundy)

## Details

- **Director:** Peter Strickland
- **Director:** Peter Strickland
- **Writer:** Peter Strickland
- **Cinematography:** Nic Knowland
- **Editor:** Matyas Fekete
- **Music:** Rachel Zeffira, Faris Badwan
- **Production design:** Pater Sparrow
- **Costume design:** Andrea Flesch
- **Producer:** Andrew Starke
- **Cast:** Sidse Babett Knudsen as Cynthia; Chiara D'Anna as Evelyn; Eugenia Caruso as Dr. Fraxini; Zita Kraszkó as Dr. Schuller; Monica Swinn as Lorna; Eszter Tompa as Dr. Viridana; Fatma Mohamed as The Carpenter; Kata Bartsch as Dr. Lurida
- **Runtime:** 1h 44m
- **Release (the US):** 23 January 2015
- **Genres:** Drama, Romance
- **Budget:** $1 million
- **Box office:** $175,668
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-xIMBnclyA

## Where to watch in the US

- The Roku Channel: free, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd
- Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy $9.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $28.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-16.*

Also available in: AE, AT, AU, BE, DE, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, LT, NL, NO, NZ, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- European Film Award for Best Composer 2015: European Film Award for Best Composer (won)
- Meeting Point Europe Award 2015: Meeting Point Europe Award (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant* (1972): Another enclosed relationship where desire makes unequal demands on the people involved.
- *Secretary* (2002): A warmer, more direct romance about finding someone who shares your particular desires.
- *The Servant* (1963): Domestic routines and shifting authority turn an elegant house into an uncomfortable place.
- *In the Mood for Love* (2000), Fi1m 91: Repeated encounters, careful clothes and feelings that cannot be tidily accommodated. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-mood-for-love.md)
- *Portrait of a Lady on Fire* (2019), Fi1m 89: For another patient romance that takes women’s looking and longing seriously. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-duke-of-burgundy