“I wanted to write something devoted to the disruptions of the stomach.” Peter Strickland may be the only director who could say something like that and really mean it. After all, he is the master of minutia filmmaking, creating certified head-spinners and sensual dreamscapes from cursed red dresses (“In Fabric”), creepy audible quivers (“Berberian Sound Studio”), and lepidopterologically-charged S&M (“The Duke of Burgundy”). It may seem rather obvious, then, that his new film, “Flux Gourmet,” focuses on the sonic nuances of gastronomy and gastrointestinal disturbance.
“Flux Gourmet” follows a “sonic collective”—made up of Elle di Elle (Fatma Mohamed), Billy Rubin (Asa Butterfield), and Lamina Propria (Ariane Labed)—who take up residency at a special institute “devoted to culinary and alimentary performance.” Under the watchful eye of Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie), the institute’s head, the trio record the burbling heartbeats of simmering sauces, the pitter-patter of spilt smoothies, and the faint groans of knives through zucchinis. Documenting their activities is the institute’s ‘dossierge,’ Stones (Makis Papadimitriou), who, in the face of bitter rivalries and creative disputes, has to deal with increasing civil—and gastric—unrest.
In a statement made last year, Strickland expanded on his motivation for making the film: “‘Flux Gourmet’ came about through a personal frustration with how alimentary disorders or food allergies have been comically portrayed in some films, and without wanting to embark on a finger-wagging mission, I wanted to write something devoted to the disruptions of the stomach whilst attempting to maintain a degree of dignity to deeply private and embarrassing symptoms.”
“Flux Gourmet” premiered earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival, where The Playlist’s Charles Bramesco called it Strickland’s “grand act of prestidigitation,” in which he “coaxes out something like poignancy from the peculiar, just as he conjures the visceral and unknowable from ordinary groceries.” This may well be Strickland’s most outré film to date, and with a filmography steeped in squashed fruit, sartorial horror, and manor house piss play, that’s really saying something.
“Flux Gourmet” will be released in select theaters and on digital/VOD on June 24.
Here’s the full synopsis from IFC:
A sonic collective who can’t decide on a name takes up a residency at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance. The members Elle di Elle, Billy Rubin and Lamina Propria are caught up in their own power struggles, only their dysfunctional dynamic is furthermore exacerbated when they have to answer to the institute’s head, Jan Stevens. With the various rivalries unfolding, Stones, the Institute’s ‘dossierge’ has to privately endure increasingly fraught stomach problems whilst documenting the collective’s activities.
Upon hearing of Stones’s visits to the gastroenterologist, Dr Glock, Elle coerces him into her performances in a desperate bid for authenticity. The reluctant Stones puts up with the collective’s plans to use his condition for their art whilst Jan Stevens goes to war with Elle over creative differences.