For the benefit of everyone who isn’t an expert on insects, let me just say that this film has nothing to with dukes or the region of Burgundy. Instead, the title of this film refers to a specific species of butterfly. Since this never gets said in the movie itself, I had to go and look it up. What this film is about is the sadomasochistic relationship between two women with insects, butterflies and moths in particular, being a recurrent theme.

One of the many delights of The Duke of Burgundy is how it undermines your expectations and misleads you, multiple times. It opens with the scene of a young woman named Evelyn, played by an apparent newcomer Chiara D’Anna, arriving at the home of an older woman, Cynthia. She’s played by veteran Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen. Since there’s no narration and little dialogue, we must discern the nature of their relationship from the clues we’re given. “You’re late”, Cynthia says as she opens the door. When Evelyn starts she sit down, Cynthia snaps at her and orders her to clean the study. It seems obvious that Evelyn is a maid, yet when Cynthia marches out of the bathroom with a pair of panties dangling off of her hand, we infer that there is something more going on.

The most prominent film about the BDSM lifestyle in recent years is of course 50 Shades of Grey, a movie that I have no plans to watch due to its awful reviews. It’s therefore no surprise that many reviewers have compared these two films, always to the advantage of this one. That’s because this is a work of actual depth and nuance. Cynthia, stern as a schoolmarm, always plays the role of the dominant partner in their playacting sessions. Evelyn is always the submissive, with her nervous tics and downcast eyes. But as the story unfolds, we learn that these are indeed roles that they play. Evelyn is the one who has a seemingly insatiable desire for their psychosexual play. When a saleswoman comes by to talk about some of the paraphernalia that are available, Evelyn’s eyes practically light up with lust. Cynthia as the older woman who sometimes seems worried about losing the younger woman’s affections is the one who goes along with her plans and scripted scenarios, sometimes with great reluctance and even exasperation.

Both actresses turn in fine performances with Knudsen in my opinion being deserving of special praise. During the sessions, she needs to be the sexually powerful seductress yet outside of them, you can see how much effort it takes for her to play the role and how age is catching up with her. Director Peter Strickland takes his time with things so the film has a languorous feeling, too slow even for me, but the images at least are gorgeous and mesmerizing. There is even some subtle worldbuilding at work here as you get the sense that despite what looks like a British-style university setting, the society they live in is bizarre indeed. No men appear in this film at all while the women seem oddly fascinated by bugs. In the scene with the saleswoman, Evelyn even seems to offer a collection of moths in exchange for goods.

The sexual content in this film is surprisingly low-key and tasteful, with actual sex acts only taking place off camera. As such there’s no danger of it coming across as cheap exploitation, a charge that 50 Shades has been vulnerable to. The brand of BDSM shown here revolves around dominance play and humiliation but not infliction of pain. You won’t see spanking with riding crops or choking in here. It feels like a much more honest and respectful depiction of the lifestyle.

Unfortunately even though this movie doesn’t have an unusually long running time, it feels like it’s longer than it needs to be. There are only really the two characters and once we glean the true nature of their relationship, the film really has nowhere else to go. Its ending is particularly unsatisfying. My wife ended up not liking it and I have to admit that linking the BDSM practices to the insect theme feels like a stretch. Still, you can’t deny that this is a pretty unique movie. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything that is even remotely comparable to it. That alone makes it well worth watching.