In fabric

Movie
Original title	In fabric
Country of production	United Kingdom
original language	English
Publishing year	2018
length	118 minutes
Rod
Director	Peter Strickland
script	Peter Strickland
production	Andrew Strong
camera	Ari Wegner
cut	Matyas Fekete
occupation
	Gwendoline Christie : Gwen; Marianne Jean-Baptiste : Sheila; Hayley Squires : Babs; Leo Bill : Reg Speaks; Steve Oram : Clive; Richard Bremmer : Mr. Lundy; Karl Farrer : Stag; Gavin Brocker : Clipper; Jaygann Ayeh : Vince; Sidse Babett Knudsen; Caroline Catz;

In Fabric is a horror film directed by Peter Strickland that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018 and was released in cinemas in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2019. At the center of the film's story is a single, red dress that develops a hostile life of its own towards its wearers.

action

In a town in the Thames Valley in 1993, the busy winter sales season is in full swing. Attracted by the advertising announcing the January sales, customers flock to the classy Dentley & Soper's clothing store. Sheila, a bank clerk who recently separated from her husband, enters the store with her son Vince and his new friend Gwen. She opts for a stunning red dress, which is to turn out to be an unfortunate decision. When Sheila has no more use for the dress, the flashy outfit finds its way to a charity shop, where washing machine mechanic Reg Speaks purchases it to wear to his bachelorette party before giving it to his fiancée Babs.

production

The British Gwendoline Christie plays Gwen

The film was co-funded by the British Film Institute with funding from the National Lottery, BBC Films and Head Gear Films. Directed by Peter Strickland , who also wrote the screenplay for the film.

In September 2017 it was announced that the Oscar-nominated actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste had received a role in the film. Other actors include Hayley Squires, Leo Bill , Julian Barratt, Steve Oram, Fatma Mohamed, Jaygann Ayeh, Richard Bremmer, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Gwendoline Christie .

Filming ended in November 2017 after five weeks of filming in the UK. Ari Wegner acted as cameraman .

The score was contributed by Cavern of Anti-Matter aka Tim Gane, Joe Dilworth and Holger Zapf. The soundtrack album, which comprises a total of 35 pieces of music, was released as a download by Duophonic in May 2020.

The film was shown for the first time in September 2018 as part of the Toronto International Film Festival . It was also presented at the Festivals Internacional de Cine de San Sebastián in September , then at the Zurich Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, and in October 2018 at the Sitges Film Festival and the London Film Festival . In October 2018 it was shown at the Viennale . The German premiere of the film took place in November 2018 at the Heimspiel Filmfest in Regensburg. From the end of April to the beginning of May 2019, the film was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival , then at the Montclair Film Festival. The film was released in cinemas in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2019. In August 2019, a screening took place at the Melbourne International Film Festival, as well as at the Sarajevo Film Festival . The worldwide distribution rights for the film are owned by Bankside Films. After the film was shown in Toronto, A24 secured the distribution rights for North America. In October 2019 it will be shown at the Independent FilmFest Osnabrück .

reception

Reviews

So far, the film has received the approval of 92 percent of all Rotten Tomatoes critics and achieved an average rating of 7.5 out of a possible 10 points.

Peter Debruge of Variety says in fabric feels like a custom-made tribute to former ultra-stylized to Italian thriller and dispose over a very unique sense of humor and, thanks to the modular synthesizer group Cavern of Anti-Matter over a worn, otherwise-dimensional The atmosphere. For fans of Argento's uniquely eccentric classic, about a dance academy that serves as a pretext for a witch's spell, In Fabric could be the hoped-for film that translates this concept into a surreal department store, says Debruge. The film critic also notes that it would be wise to choose your burial site when choosing the dress, but the film never explains how Sheila's purchase was cursed or whether all the clothes sold in this godforsaken department store are similarly dangerous are. Instead, the film concentrates on this one “arterial red” robe, in the hem of which the strange message “You who wear me will know me” is embroidered (English for about “You who wear me will understand me”). While In Fabric doesn't directly condemn capitalism, be it hard to overlook the statement the film makes about the almost hypnotic appeal of retailing, or the way it does the hopes we are placing in a new outfit, so debruge. In addition, it is no coincidence that the changing rooms at Dentley & Soper's are referred to as a "sphere of transformation" and that trying on the dress is an almost ecstatic experience for Sheila.

Susanne Gottlieb from the online cinema magazine Uncut.at explains that Strickland does not concentrate in his film on the classic supernatural horror film elements such as the logical explanation of why the dress is haunted and whether all the clothes in the mysterious shop have the same effect: “Many questions remain until the End unanswered. What role do the saleswomen play, why are the dolls anatomically correct with vaginas, is consumption simply an act of love with materialism and what is the motivation of the dress. But the film doesn't need any specific answers. He lives from his garish look, the exaggerated characters and his keen sense of humor. If you want to shop afterwards with a clear conscience, you are cordially invited. "