Mano Destra, Übelmann Cleo, Switzerland 1986, 16mm, b/w, sound (magnetic), 53 Min.
[Forein Language Titles]
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Music by The Vyllies
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Synopsis
‘Mano Destra’ is an enigmatically stylised and exquisitely photographed study of the body as object. Achieving cult status among the S&M Underground, the film however confronts the paradox of S&M: the consensual nature of the relationship. The domina, Cleo Uebelmann herself – cool, detached,competent and precise, sculpts the body of her’Victim’/’Client’ into an aesthetic object. The audience, however, wonders if Domina and client are one and the same woman. Birgit Hein notes the ‘tenderness of the film in relation to the shock horror with which it had been received by certain audiences.’
‘Mano Destra’ challenges fondly held views of the ‘correct’ female sexuality and so creates both feelings of outrage and liberation.- Karen Smith.
http://www.lux.org.uk/collection/works/mano-destra
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Cleo Übelmann, Birgit Hein (1988), The Dominas: Cléo Uebelmann-Group, Tübingen, Gehrke, 118 pp.
Julia Knight (1992), Women and the New German Cinema, London, New York, Verso, 221 pp.