A new film by British choreographer and director Holly Blakey, made in collaboration with auction house Christie’s, follows French-American actor Camille Rowe as she traverses the halls of Cherry Hill, an English country house designed in 1935 by architect Oliver Hill, and an early instance of the designer’s turn to architectural modernism. Set to the sound of British electronic soloist Gwilym Gold, Rowe navigates the curved, objet d’art-filled hallways, encountering a band of dancers along the way. Here, Blakey talks about the project:
“Camille’s feet explore each fraction of the house like she’s never seen any of it before. She imagines friends, lovers, and characters to bathe her and dance with her. There’s a definite sadness, but also hopefully something a little magical and playful at the same time.
“The location offered so much scope and reason for narrative. This big, grand home sits quietly and out of the way with a loneliness that I really wanted to harness; that feeling of having everything and having nothing.
“Gwilym Gold scored the film after the final cut and where we used a whole series of sounds and music in creating the work itself. I love the sugary, narrational soundscape that he reached with this."