Oscilloscope Laboratories has released the first trailer for filmmaker Josephine Decker’s festival hit Madeline’s Madeline, but you are not prepared for what, exactly, this trailer is doing. Indeed, rather than create a traditional trailer that teases the story of the film, Oscilloscope Laboratories worked with filmmaker and artist Winston Hacking to create a wholly original trailer, one littered with 3D imagery and animation. It doesn’t really tell you all that much about the film, but it is absolutely hypnotic and intriguing.

Madeline’s Madeline revolves around a young aspiring actress named Madeline (Helena Howard) who lands the lead role in a theater piece, only to find her ambitious director (Molly Parker) wants her to bring her interior life—specifically her relationship with her mother (Miranda July)—into her performance. When the lines between reality and fiction are blurred, Madeline and those around her begin to spiral out.

The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and received pretty stellar reviews, and indeed it looks to be an intriguing and original piece of filmmaking. Sometimes it’s great to see studios like Oscilloscope Laboratories or A24 taking bold leaps in how they market their films, and this introduction to Madeline’s Madeline certainly makes an impression.

Check out the Madeline’s Madeline trailer below. The film will be released in New Yorok on August 10th and in Los Angeles on August 17th.

Here’s the official synopsis for Madeline’s Madeline:

Madeline got the part! She’s going to play the lead in a theater piece! Except the lead wears sweatpants like Madeline’s. And has a cat like Madeline’s. And is holding a steaming hot iron next to her mother’s face – like Madeline is.

 

Madeline (newcomer Helena Howard) has become an integral part of a prestigious physical theater troupe.  When the workshop's ambitious director (Molly Parker) pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother (Miranda July) into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. The resulting battle between imagination and appropriation spirals out of the rehearsal space and rips through all three women’s lives.

 

Writer/director Josephine Decker has long been an independent filmmaker to admire, utilizing a welcome expressionistic approach that imbues her subjects with a vibrant sense of urgency. Anchored by a commanding performance from newcomer Helena Howard, Decker's exploration of the thin lines between illness and artistry displays a rare sensitivity for capturing the struggles of discovering a sense of one's self that defies easy narrative categorization.