Reframe Spotlight: 'Phantom Love'

Experimental filmmaker Nina Menkes explores a woman trapped inside her family, and her slow process of inner liberation in Phantom Love.

In the film, the main character is Lulu (Marina Shoif): a very beautiful, but angry and isolated woman, who lives alone, and works in a casino in Korea-town, Los Angeles. Lulu’s lover is much younger than herself—the relationship is charged but emotionally disconnected. Lulu’s younger sister, Nitzan (Juliette Marquis), is in the midst of a psychotic breakdown, caused in part by prescription medication. Lulu feels emotionally invaded by her mother, who wants to come to town and stay in Lulu’s apartment in order to try and help the younger sister—but this feels like a further intense invasion, and Lulu refuses.

Like much of Menkes’ work, Phantom Love positions an alienated woman against a harsh, inhospitable landscape—this time, within a family. Stylistically, the film combines fairy-tale elements and a dreamy, mystical quality with a gritty, hyper-real, and sometimes almost documentary style, shooting everything on location and often using non-actors (“real” people) in the non-major roles.

To rent or buy Phantom of Love, go to the Reframe Collection.