Queen of Diamonds

In Queen of Diamonds, a ‘film without heroes’, a woman without a past or future is followed in an almost-documentary fashion in her motel room, at work and during the ritual care of a dying old man. Her husband had recently disappeared without trace, but that only seems to be an unimportant side issue in the story. The lengthy and tightly-framed shots with apparently few spectacular actions make Menkes’ style reminiscent of the early work of Chantal Akerman. She also shares with Akerman a perfect feeling for tension and for the hypnotic effect of time.

Nina Menkes herself sees the film as a portrait of contemporary American culture in which the excessive zeal to acquire material wealth is coupled with an emotional deaf-mutism and alienation. The film was given the ironic subtitle ‘a western without horses’. It has nothing to do with a western, but the desolate, hot and dusty landscape around Las Vegas plays an important role.

Restored by the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation.

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