Set within the structure of a feature length melodrama the film is formally based on the Spanish dramatist Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s play La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream). Its narrative traces the difficult return of a child who had been banished from the family home, translating this into contemporary British context. Acted scenes against a bright white ground where nothing and nobody touches each other alternate with still shots of objects that fluctuate between status symbols, evidence of crime and theatrical props. A drumming sound track builds up and breaks down like the building of a house, the effect of which is physiological. (Ian White)

Courtesy the artist and Carlier Gebauer, Berlin, STANDARD (OSLO) and Altman Siegal, San Francisco

• Sektion Section: Film
• Programm Programme: Emily Wardill 4