Dust

Based on J. M. Coetzee's novel In the Heart of the Country, this searing drama about a white British spinster living in South Africa, is highlighted by the haunting performance of Jane Birkin as Magda. Jealous of her father's (Trevor Howard) attention to one of the black female servants, the moody Magda daydreams horrible acts of retribution--before finally exploding in a murderous rage against him. As the new master of the farm, Magda envisions a community of equality between herself and the black workers. The tension escalates when Magda is unable to pay the foreman--and he rapes her, creating yet another different power structure. Disturbing though it may be, director Marion Hansel's film is a bold, architecturally beautiful, and constantly challenging movie that unflinchingly looks at the relationships between sex, power, and race, as channelled through the mad desperation of one lonely woman. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)