(Switserland, 1986, 16 mm, 18:00)

This film is an enigmatically stylised and exquisitely photographed study of the body as object. It achieved cult status among the S/M underground, even though it confronts the paradox of S/M: the consensual nature of the relationship The dominatrix, Cleo Ubelmann herself – cool, detached, competent and precise – sculpts the body of her ‘Victim’/’Client’ into an aesthetic object. The audience, however, wonders if dominatrix and client are one and the same woman. Mano Destra challenges fondly held views of the ‘correct’ female sexuality and so creates both feelings of outrage and liberation. (Karen Smith)