Cremaster 5

Director: Matthew Barney, Matthew Barney, Matthew Barney, Matthew Barney, Matthew Barney, Matthew Barney

1997 / 55min / 35mm

Late 19th-century Budapest—specifically the extravagant State Opera and the ornate Gellert thermal bathhouse—provide the backdrop for Barney’s 5th Cremaster film, which takes the form of a tragic, romantic lyric opera in high Gothic style concerning the Queen of the Chain (Ursula Andress) and her subjects, the Diva, the Magician, and the Giant (all played by Barney). A lavish lament of a film, steeped in loss and separation, it’s the first of the Cremaster films to use any language, with a Hungarian-language libretto by Barney and score courtesy of Jonathan Bepler.