LIFF Presents joins up with Queer Fear on a preview of The Five Devils. Leeds-based film event organiser Queer Fear explores narratives, filmmakers and characters that chart LGBTQIA+ communities' lasting connections with horror!
'A queer, witchy thriller - part time-travel, part romance, and all heart!' - Valerie Complex, Deadline
‘Buoyed by two outstanding performances and shot in ravishing 35mm, The Five Devils is a finely-crafted drama-genre hybrid’ – Lee Marshall, Screen International
‘A sly, supernatural slice of relationship drama bolstered by some stellar direction and performances… Léa Mysius produces a provocative, time twisty gem.’ – Jason Gorber, That Shelf
A sensual, heady trip of a film that plays with our sense of time as well as the perennial coming-of-age tale, The Five Devils parallels our own emotional journeys in queer love and mirrors our need for the familiar as well as the yearning for an authentic life. Evoking Sally Potter’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, as well as the esoteric exploration of motherhood and memory in Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, Léa Mysius' adventurous second feature is a bold take on the ever-cinematic family drama.
The familial ties that bind are supremely tested, much like in recent indie darlings Aftersun, Petite Maman and The Quiet Girl. The past and present, shot in stunning 35mm throughout, is redolent. The Five Devils is a genre-bending, heart-rending and kaleidoscopic film that aromatically transports us to a powerful, fragrant world of past regrets, long-kept secrets and buried desires.
