Earwig

This hypnotic adaptation of Brian Catling’s "Earwig" is set in a desolate, motionless world, a sort of abstract apartment somewhere in mid-20th century Europe. Solitary Albert Scellinc is employed to look after Mia, a girl with teeth of ice. Each day Albert must change Mia’s dentures and serve her meals. He is also, mysteriously, looking after a cabinet of glasses. He spies on Mia in her bedroom, listening in by holding a glass up to the wall. We follow events from Albert’s perspective, distorted by his dreams and his past. Tension, and strangeness build through sonic texture, long fixed shots, low light, distorted images, and extreme close-ups – a gothic fairy tale, a dream, a nightmare (!) told through Hadžihalilović’s distinctive lyrical cinematic language. (Irish Film Institute)

Director's Filmography (Selection)
Earwig (2021) - De Natura (2018, short) - Evolution (2015; CE'16) - Nectar (2014) - Innocence (2004; CE'05) - La bouche de Jean-Pierre (1996, mid-length)
European Panorama Fiction 2022
Lucile Hadžihalilović
Great Britain / France / Belgium 2021
color
114 minutes
English
OV with English subtitles
Screenplay Lucile Hadžihalilović, Geoff Cox
Cinematography Jonathan Ricquebourg
Editing Adam Finch
Sound/Sounddesign Ken Yasumoto
Music Augustin Viard
With Paul Hilton, Romane Hemelaers, Romola Garaï, Alex Lawther
Producer(s) Andy Starke, Jean des Forêts, Amélie Jacquis, Jean-Yves Roubin, Cassandre Warnauts
Production
Anti-Worlds, Petit Film, British Film Institute, Channel Four, Frakas Productions
World Sales
Petit Film
Austrian Premiere
World Premiere
Toronto International Film Festival 2021