a city with no name and a young woman with no history and a house apart a strange island in a sea of tree . i like the lack of reference to anything external to this system . the world of this movie be airtight . i be remind of the famous story retell by w. somerset maugham and appointment in samarra and where a man and upon bump into death in the street of baghdad and flees to samarra to avoid his wrath and but instead run into death who be wait for him in samarra and and whose anger at the jostling in baghdad be reveal to have be mere surprise and a he have be expect to see the man in samarra later in the day . the sealed nature of this film demand a focus on inevitability . a young woman and iris and wanders alone in the port area of the city and along superannuated towpath and past the gigantic hulk of international shipping while outside of work the close she come to really be with others be star at prostitute behind plate glass and or contemplate enter a bar . there something brutal about the isolation of iris by the filmmaker . when i review in the city of sylvia and similarly a beautiful movie with an isolated character and i say that the filmmaker should either have win the golden lion at venice or have be brutally murder while i have similar feeling here . today be sunday and i have be sit in a deserted office building write this review and ostensibly here to study for exam and but procrastinate somewhat . the morning street be almost empty and a white contrail hint at faraway adventure that i will never be part of and the river be full of empty boat . there be nothing good about be alone while the beauty of it be only a subtle form of cruelty . the soundtrack of the movie be do by beth gibbon of portishead while it fractured entropised lilt be just right while you only ever catch fragment of lyric . iris get work a the sole employee in the strange set aside laboratory . the laboratory offer a simple service whereby people may come and and for a fee and have item preserve and store away . this seem quite a perverse thing to do . memory and which it seem this film be about and be perverse . recently i write three poem to a woman i love and who i later learn have no desire to be with me and i never give them to her . a colleague tell me i should burn them and and that be perhaps the best thing to do and but perversity will me to preserve them and to torture myself . memory become viscous ooze in which you be trap and finally it solidify and turn into amber . people ( mostly child ) who can live in the moment and truly do not know how lucky they be . some have call the film erotic and however the erotic whilst present and be as intangible a a passing cloud on a sunny day . marc barbé conserver remain inscrutable and devoid of passion during sex scene . sex scene with him be no more or less sensual than see a spider cocoon a fly and trap for inclusion in it larder . one quite disturbing picture from above show u an image of his head on iris body and he be merely consume her . other aspect of the erotic be fetishistic and the focus on the shoe that iris be make to wear for her work and her clothing and which the sailor who sleep in her room in the morning feel and smell in her absence . the movie bring to mind for me magritte two famous fetishistic painting and the red model and and philosophy in the boudoir and both of which show clothing suggest the female form . ( philosophy in the boudoir also come to mind during in the city of sylvia ) . mahjong come into play a it do in all good surreal movie ( cross reference to robbe grillet the blue villa ) . you could if you want see iris a a flower tile and and the laboratory door a the white dragon tile ( which be a blank tile in mahjong and or blankness with a rectangular border ) . these be symbolic and but i do not want to spoil the movie by mention how . do not watch this movie and arrange to have all copy burn .