A pioneer of feminist avant-garde cinema, Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen’s Riddles of the Sphinx (1977) follows Louise, who navigates the complications of motherhood and domestic labor. Structured in seven distinct sections, the film unfolds through fragmented imagery and dialogue in Louise’s life, accompanied by Mulvey’s retelling of the Sphinx, whose riddle resonates with the enigma of motherhood. Through this figure, the film engages with feminist and psychoanalytic concerns and redefines how women are seen and heard on screen.
Programme Strand: Cinephilia Encounters: Amorous Exile and the Gaze
Curators’ notes: Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen’s Riddles of the Sphinx (1977) employs experimental imagery to interrogate women’s representation within patriarchal filmmaking. Its signature 360-degree panning shots glide slowly through domestic and professional spaces in Louise’s life, disrupting cinematic conventions built on female objectification and turning the act of looking itself into an object of reflection. Rejecting the camera’s role as a tool of fetishisation, the film directs attention to the social structures shaping women’s experience. The presence of multiple female voices—including Louise, her friends and colleagues, and Mulvey herself—replaces the singular authority of traditional voiceover, challenging established meanings of “woman” on and off the screen. (Crystal Xinjie Wang)
Year of Production: 1977
Duration: 92 min
Genres: Drama
Production Countries/Regions: United Kingdom
Dialogue Language(s): English
Subtitle Language(s): English
Producer(s): Laura Mulvey, Peter Wollen
Executive Producer(s): Laura Mulvey, Peter Wollen
Key Casts: Dinah Stabb, Merdelle Jordine, Rhiannon Tise
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