With a script written by the incomparable Antonin Artaud, this film portrays the erotic hallucinations of a clergyman, although the plot is the least important aspect of this avant-garde surrealist work. The images subvert their own nature, in sequences which seek to explore and question all interpretation, foregrounding the subconscious. As one of the first surrealist works for the cinema which has its origins in the French avant-garde movement of the 1920s, it is also considered one of the seminal works of experimental cinema and expressionism. A passionate and imaginative critique of patriarchy and the dominant male sexuality directed by the French filmmaker Germaine Dulac, it still ranks as one of the earliest and most important feminist works. (JA)