This article relies largely or entirely on a
single source. (November 2016) |
Surreal Estate | |
---|---|
Directed by | Eduardo de Gregorio [1] |
Written by | Michael Graham Eduardo de Gregorio |
Starring |
Bulle Ogier Leslie Caron Corin Redgrave Marie-France Pisier |
Cinematography | Ricardo Aronovich |
Edited by | Alberto Yaccelini |
Release date |
|
Running time | 83 min |
Country | France |
Languages | English 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.
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]
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]