The familiar tale of a man who can’t choose between two women and makes everyone suffer is reworked by Rainer as a jolting and radically austere, anti-illusionist spectacle, comprising dance rehearsals, photography, tableaux and a flurry of fragments of text, both on screen and not. Off-camera, multiple voices can be heard – including that of cinematographer Babette Mangolte, who was at the time just beginning work with a young Chantal Akerman.

This is the UK Premiere of the 4K restoration of the work.