Twilight of the Ice Nymphs

Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997) by Guy Madden is a 90 minute dream that takes place in a mythical land where the sun never sets in the summer, and the world is mostly below ground, but some is above. A political prisoner is released, and returns to his native land and his sister, who has been running the family ostrich farm with the help of a hired man. The sister, played by Shelly Duvall, is in love with an evil one legged doctor and hypnotist, who does every woman in the cast except her. The hired man, Frank Gorshin, hopes to inherit the farm. Our hero falls in love with the first woman he meets, Pascale Bussières, and nearly has an encounter with Alice Krige. Of course, the good doctor is doing both of them.

NUDITY REPORT

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DVD info from Amazon

Contains two feature films (Archangel and Twilight of the Ice Nymphs) and one short (The Heart of the World)
Two filmmakers' audio commentaries
Original production design collages
Original storyboards drawn by Guy Maddin
Behind-the-scenes footage
Full-screen format

Oh, and then there is this statue of Venus that also plays a part I couldn't quite figure out.

This is every bit as strange as it sounds. Not only is the plot off-the-wall, but it is shot in overly-saturated and soft focus colors, for a very bizarre look. Bussières shows her fabulous backside, and the side of a breast, in a love scene of sorts half way through the film.

For a more favorable review by someone who claims to understand this, read this one.

The Critics Vote

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The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 5.5/10

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, I have no idea what genre to call this other than twisted and totally strange. Given that as a genre, this film meets the criteria, and is therefore a C. Some of the visuals, although very artificial colors, are artistic.