Surreal Estate

Surreal Estate
Directed byEduardo de Gregorio[1]
Written byMichael Graham
Eduardo de Gregorio
StarringBulle Ogier
Leslie Caron
Corin Redgrave
Marie-France Pisier
CinematographyRicardo Aronovich
Edited byAlberto Yaccelini
Release date
  • 1976 (1976) (France)
Running time
83 min
CountryFrance
LanguagesEnglish
French

Surreal Estate (French: Sérail) is a 1976 French mystery film directed by Argentine filmmaker Eduardo de Gregorio, who is best known for his screenwriting work with Jacques Rivette.

Plot

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Surreal Estate tells the story of Eric Sange (Corin Redgrave), an English novelist who, seeking to buy a house in France as an investment, discovers a run-down mansion inhabited by three strange women: Ariane (Rivette regular Bulle Ogier), Agathe (Marie-France Pisier), and their ostensible housekeeper, Céleste (Leslie Caron). Together, these women draw Eric into a gothic mystery that his own novelistic experience tells him is hackneyed, but which he nonetheless finds irresistible.[1]

Cast

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Reception

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Imran Khan of PopMatters says of the film: "Very much a film of its time, it helped to corner a market in French cinema that had seen a tiny flourish of fantasy-themed dramas first initiated by Jacques Rivette’s Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974), a film that dispensed with logic and chronology for a shattered perspective on cinematic narrative."[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Khan, Imran "Surreal Estate: Exploring the Haunted Grounds of Sérail", PopMatters, 20 January 2015. Retrieved on 20 November 2016.
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