Mano Destra
Mano Destra is a lesbian art film by the Swiss filmmaker Cleo Übelmann, released in 1986. In black and white, Mano Destra is a study of erotic objectification which depicts a woman tying up another woman in a lengthy act of consensual bondage. Made in Switzerland, the film is 53 minutes long.
In Women and the New German Cinema, Julia Knight describes it as a film which explores the liberating possibilities of sadomasochism, subverting audience expectations of what sadomasochism is like. In New Queer Cinema, B. Ruby Rich described it as "deserving of instant cult status".
In The Pleasure Threshold: Looking at Lesbian Pornography on Film, Cherry Smyth states that its imagery is "beyond sex", and that "like being offered an ice-cold, luscious fruit drink on a hot day, which you are forbidden to taste, this film encapsulates desire as death, as nothingness, and yet utter completeness".
Images from the film were later published in 1988 as part of a book, The Dominas - Mano Destra by the Cleo Uebelmann-Group.
