Catalan maverick auteur Albert Serra has established himself as one of the boldest and most unique voices in contemporary cinema, with his beguiling work often drawing on the history of literature and art.
Winner of the prestigious Golden Leopard award for Best Film at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2013, Story of My Death is a baroque reflection on pleasure and erotic desire dramatised from an imagined meeting between the ageing Casanova and Count Dracula. Serra’s deliciously eccentric film mines history to blend the mythical with the everyday, charting the transition from the Age of Enlightenment to that of Romanticism – marking a clash between an eighteenth century of rationalism and sensuality against a nineteenth century founded upon repression and violence.
The DVD is presented from a new director-approved HD digital transfer, 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround audio option and also features Albert Serra's exquiiste 2013 short film Cuba Libre, his tribute to filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
2013 Locarno Film Festival / Winner: Golden Leopard, Best Film
"Truly incomparable… gleefully provocative and sheerly beautiful" Senses of Cinema
"Story of My Death is a singular work, and its originality is apparent in every frame... This is a film of dazzling vitality and animation" Calum Marsh, The Village Voice
"Serra’s immersive period film might be a lost chapter from Casanova’s memoirs... goes way beyond conventional expectations... an alchemical experiment well worth witnessing" The New York Times
"A slow-burn masterpiece of mood, timing and tonal control... Will we see a better film this year?" Michael Pattison
"Vivaciously minimalist but visually breathtaking, it's a rarefied cinematic luxury" Melbourne International Film Festival
"Story of My Death is a truly esoteric and unique work, something contemporary, yet totally free of constraints of time and space. The trappings might be historical and mythical, but [Serra's] playground is cinematic language" CinemaScope
Extras
- Presented from a new high-definition digital transfer, approved by the director.
- Albert Serra’s exquisite short Cuba Libre, his 2013 tribute to filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
- 16-page booklet featuring a wide-ranging conversation between Albert Serra and filmmaker Ben Rivers.
