Christoph Schlingensief: Egomania – Island without Hope

Egomania – Insel ohne Hoffnung
(Egomania – Island without Hope)
Christoph Schlingensief, 1986 Germany, 16 mm transferred to Blu-ray, 84 min

'Reality in Egomania is cold and desolate and infused with an apocalyptic sense of futility and hopelessness – not unlike much West German culture of the mid-1980s'. (David Ashley Hughes, Reinventing the Left: Radical Responses to German Reunification, 2006)

Egomania is a visually stunning end-of-the-world melodrama about lust, jealousy and murder set amidst solar eclipses, orchestral chants and the distant thunder of the boiling sea. The film’s characters – riddled with unconscious desires – find themselves imprisoned on an island. Drawing parallels to the work of British filmmaker Derek Jarman and staring Jarman’s actress-muse Tilda Swinton, Schlingensief’s raw and almost mythological film stands in contrast to his more offensive efforts. (Australian Cinémathèque)

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