2026, 108 min.

Awards and Selections: Cannes Film Festival – Special Screening, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)
Director: Gregg Araki
Country: United States

[IN-PERSON SCREENING]

A fierce, sensual, neon-charged return by an iconoclast of American independent cinema. Gregg Araki delivers a provocative thriller about desire, manipulation, and power games.

Young Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) lands a job working for acclaimed artist Erika Carbon (Olivia Wilde). What begins as an ordinary occupation soon turns into a dangerous journey into the depths of sensual obsessions and power dynamics. When a mysterious muse (Charli xcx) enters the picture, the young man becomes entangled in a complex love triangle. Araki creates a stylish, impressionistic tragicomedy pulsing with music, asking what price we pay for surrendering ourselves to passion.

In the Media

«Gregg Araki is back at the top of his game. A sensual, brazen, and exceptionally stylish tragicomedy.»
– Peter Debruge, Variety, read the full review here 

«Claustrophobic, neon-lit, and full of queer energy – a film that hypnotises through its atmosphere.»
– David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, read the full review here 

«A film about whether surrendering yourself completely to someone is enslavement or liberation, and about how the answer depends on the generation of the person being asked. A kink scene, the contemporary art world, and a boy who is finally told who he is. Araki still knows more about desire than all of mainstream cinema put together, although at times his provocations become unbearably declarative.»
– Grzegorz Narożny, Pełna Sala – Filmweb capsule review 

Gregg Araki

American director and pioneer of the New Queer Cinema movement. He rose to prominence with his cult Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy and the drama Mysterious Skin. His work breaks taboos, combining questions of identity with bold aesthetics.

Tags: thriller, erotic drama, comedy, LGBTQ+, art, obsession, Gregg Araki, Olivia Wilde, Charli XCX