The Duke Of Burgundy | 2026 |

Sidse Babett Knudsen (best known for Borgen ) is a marvel of micro-expression. As Cynthia, she is the reluctant dominatrix. She doesn’t want to punish Evelyn; she wants to read about butterflies. Watching Knudsen switch from stern cruelty to exhausted, loving tenderness in a single glance is a masterclass in acting.

A gorgeous, melancholic, and oddly moving study of the butterfly collector's paradox: The moment you pin down your desire to examine it, you risk killing it. The Duke Of Burgundy

What you get is one of the most exquisitely strange and intellectually rigorous films about the nature of love, control, and consent ever committed to celluloid. Sidse Babett Knudsen (best known for Borgen )

Chiara D’Anna, with her saucer-like eyes and silent film-star presence, is equally brilliant. Evelyn is a bottom who requires a very specific kind of top—and when Cynthia fails to meet those demands (by being too gentle, or forgetting the correct script), Evelyn’s quiet devastation is genuinely moving. You realize that for Evelyn, the ritual isn't just kinky fun; it is a form of therapy, a way to feel seen. Watching Knudsen switch from stern cruelty to exhausted,

Yes, you read that correctly. For a film entirely about a sadomasochistic relationship, there is almost no nudity. Strickland understands that the waiting and the ritual are the turn-ons, not the act itself. He eroticizes the tension, the power exchange, and the vulnerability of asking your partner to hurt you.