Of all the films I saw at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, Nathan Silver’s “Thirst Street” was easily the best one. Starring Lindsay Burdge (“A Teacher”), the movie is influenced by the erotic 1970s dramas of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, but gives a deviously funny edge (think Roman Polanski’s “The Tenant”) to what is a delicious psycho sexual drama. The film is also gorgeously shot by indie cinematographer Sean Price Williams (“Good Time”) in a colorful, dreamy style not unlike Fassbinder’s 1981s film “Lola.”
“Thirst Street” centers on a loopy flight attendant in Paris recovering from a tragedy who develops a romantic obsession with a local French man. To awkwardly quote myself and my Tribeca review, I described it as a “wry and disturbed look at lust and longing, a terrific, vintage homage, and a deliciously arch little treat.” Here’s the official synopsis:
Alone and depressed after the suicide of her lover, American flight attendant Gina (Lindsay Burdge, “A Teacher”) travels to Paris and hooks up with nightclub bartender Jerome (Damien Bonnard, “Staying Vertical”) on her layover. But as Gina falls deeper into lust and opts to stay in France, this harmless rendezvous quickly turns into unrequited amour fou. When Jerome’s ex Clemence (Esther Garrel) reenters the picture, Gina is sent on a downward spiral of miscommunication, masochism, and madness. Inspired by Fassbinder’s TV movies and the ’70s erotic dramas of Borowczyk and Zulawski, THIRST STREET burrows deep into the delirious extremes we go to for love.
Co-written by New York film programmer C. Mason Wells, “Thirst Street” co-stars mostly unknown actors, but terrific cast of players includes Damien Bonnard, Esther Garrel, Lola Bessis, Jacques Nolot, Françoise Lebrun and Cindy Silver. Oh, and don’t forget the wonderfully sardonic narration by Anjelica Huston.
Samuel Goldwyn Films will release “Thirst Street” theatrically on Sept. 20th in New York and Sept. 29th in Los Angeles.
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