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Cowards Bend the Knee

Directed by Guy Maddin.
With Darcy Fehr, Melissa Dionisio, Amy Stewart.
Canada, 2003, digital video, black & white, silent, 60 min.

Situated primarily in a hockey arena and a beauty salon/abortion clinic, Maddin’s serialized film (comprised of ten short chapters) details a Winnipeg hockey star’s encounters with an oversexed Chinese woman named Meta and her hairdresser/abortionist mother. The player’s name is Guy, and Maddin has conceded that the film is partially autobiographical: “A lovingly self-loathing peek at myself, but only as I would have enough courage to look–through a cracked glass made foggy by hairspray.” Through both form and content, the film explores voyeurism; it was initially shown as a peephole installation.

Part of film series

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Film and Autobiography

Other film series with this film

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The Sharp Amnesias of Guy Maddin

Current and upcoming film series

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The Reincarnations of Delphine Seyrig

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Rosine Mbakam, 2025 McMillan-Stewart Fellow