There is an abundance of wonderful weirdness to unpack in the teaser trailer for Peter Strickland's (In Fabric, Berberian Sound Studio) latest, Flux Gourmet. It's like ASMR meets... well... Peter Strickland. The images play out like a gorgeous fever dream, potentially grotesque but piquing a morbid curiosity all the same. Starring Asa Butterfield, Gwendoline Christie, and Ariane Labed, Flux Gourmet follows a sonic collective who have taken up residency at a culinary and alimentary performance institute.
And if you aren't familiar with alimentary performance, don't worry, I looked it up for us. In short, theatricalized fine dining and the use of food in theatrical situations — the intersection between food, theatre, and performance. The dysfunctional dynamic within the group is only made worse by the head of the institute — rivalries and power struggles are plentiful. In the midst of this, the institute’s ‘dossierge’ has to privately endure increasingly fraught stomach problems whilst documenting the collective’s activities and is coerced into using these stomach issues as part of the performance, using the condition for the art.
Flux Gourmet World Premieres at Berlinale Film Festival and will be playing in theaters and on demand this Summer, from IFC Midnight.
