Buttercup Bill is an extraordinary project for any number of reasons. The fact that the film stars and was co-directed by Remy Bennett, granddaughter of crooner Tony Bennett, would alone justify a small celebrity-driven news story. The fact that the film was made by a crew that was 80% female and two female directors at a moment when fewer than 10% of American films are made by women marks it out as a special project.

But it is, more importantly, an extraordinary thing to watch. A fragmented, dreamlike account of a strange psycho-sexual relationship, Buttercup Bill stars Remy Bennett as Pernilla, a dissolute adult who reconnects with her childhood BFF Patrick (Evan Louison) following the death of a mutual friend.

At first, the film forms a bafflingly fragmented, if beautifully rendered series of shots of parties and random images. There’s more than a hint of Blue Velvet about the appearances of Hurrah for the Riff-Raff’s Alynda Lee Segarra and Dirty Projectors’ Haley Louise Dekle.

Still with it. Buttercup Bill is not, despite, initial appearances, headed toward Twin Peaks. It’s is, rather, a messed-up, highly erotically-charged two-step.

Once the film relocates to Louisiana, the viewer is led into a fug of sweltering haze and sexual musk. The film’s female authorship makes for a novel gaze on sexual spectacle. And the screenplay by co-director Emilie Richard-Froozan keeps us guessing until the end. And beyond.