Mubi's retrospective, Catherine Breillat, Auteur of Porn?, is showing April 4 - June 3, 2017 in Germany.Sex Is ComedyThroughout her career, Catherine Breillat has provided viewers with a long-form meta-cinema experience. While metacinema is as old as the medium itself, since her debut feature A Real Young Girl in 1976, Breillat has developed a distinct form of it: one that collapses ‘autobiographical’ material, various artistic sensibilities, and the process of filmmaking itself.Like dozens of other English words—such as ‘aesthetic’ or ‘abject’—the word ‘meta’ has been largely misused or misapplied with regard to the film and literary criticism. Regarding the consumption of fiction, the appropriate use of the term 'metafiction,' 'metafilm,' et cetera, has its basis in the Greek meta, which does not translate directly into English but can be understood as a preposition similar to the English word ‘about’ (‘having to do with,’ or ‘on the subject of’). Metafiction is therefore,...
- 4/24/2017
- MUBI
Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Catherine Breillat's Romance (1999) is playing January 25 - February 24 and Anatomy of Hell (2004) is playing January 26 - February 25, 2017 in the United Kingdom in the series Catherine Breillat, Auteur of Porn?“Why do men who disgust us understand us better than the ones we love?”—Marie, Romance“Forget it. She’s a bitch. A slut like any other.”“Yes, but the queen of sluts.”—Man, Anatomy of HellNobody fucks like the French. Or is that the Italians? Ask Catherine Breillat, the French auteur who remarked, when probed in an interview promoting her 2004 feature Anatomy of Hell, regarding the decision to cast Rocco Siffredi, the Italian megastar of hardcore porn, in one of the film’s two leading roles: “No French actor could do it. Rocco performs with his entire body and mind, so he is a sort of perfection.” The Italian Stallion,...
- 1/27/2017
- MUBI
Exclusive: Company also reveals more details about Claire Denis’s High Life and will show fresh footage of Emir Kusturica’s On The Milky Road.
Wild Bunch will kick-off sales on an authorised, no-holds-barred documentary about legendary Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi at the upcoming Efm.
Simply entitled Rocco, the documentary features a candid interview with the star in which he speaks about his true life, touching on his early career, fame and life with his wife of 20 years, Rosa Caracciolo, who he co-starred with in Tarzan X: Shame Of Jane- before they married and went on to have two children together.
Sometimes referred to as the “Italian stallion”, Siffredi has appeared in more than 1,500 films over his 30-year career and also dabbled briefly in the French arthouse cinema world, appearing in Catherine Breillat’s Romance and Anatomy Of Hell.
The film also follows Siffredi’s recent decision to quit the porn business for good, shortly after appearing...
Wild Bunch will kick-off sales on an authorised, no-holds-barred documentary about legendary Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi at the upcoming Efm.
Simply entitled Rocco, the documentary features a candid interview with the star in which he speaks about his true life, touching on his early career, fame and life with his wife of 20 years, Rosa Caracciolo, who he co-starred with in Tarzan X: Shame Of Jane- before they married and went on to have two children together.
Sometimes referred to as the “Italian stallion”, Siffredi has appeared in more than 1,500 films over his 30-year career and also dabbled briefly in the French arthouse cinema world, appearing in Catherine Breillat’s Romance and Anatomy Of Hell.
The film also follows Siffredi’s recent decision to quit the porn business for good, shortly after appearing...
- 2/8/2016
- ScreenDaily
The St. Louis International Film Festival has announced the films nominated for the Awfj Eda Awards.
Awfj will partner once again with Sliff to recognize the Best Female-Directed Narrative Feature and Best Female-Directed Documentary. The 24th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival will be held Nov. 5-15, 2015. Check out the full lineup here.
Here’s a glimpse of the films that have been selected:
Narratives
Fidelio: Alice’S Odyssey – Lucie Borleteau (France)
A rare woman in the man’s world of seafaring, 30-year-old Alice signs on as a replacement engineer on the freighter Fidélio. Although she loves her job and does it well, Alice remains a woman even when wearing greasy blue overalls, and there’s some doubt that the all-male crew will remain totally insensitive to her charms. The situation has further complications: Alice has a fiancé back on shore, but when she discovers that the Fidélio is captained by Gaël,...
Awfj will partner once again with Sliff to recognize the Best Female-Directed Narrative Feature and Best Female-Directed Documentary. The 24th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival will be held Nov. 5-15, 2015. Check out the full lineup here.
Here’s a glimpse of the films that have been selected:
Narratives
Fidelio: Alice’S Odyssey – Lucie Borleteau (France)
A rare woman in the man’s world of seafaring, 30-year-old Alice signs on as a replacement engineer on the freighter Fidélio. Although she loves her job and does it well, Alice remains a woman even when wearing greasy blue overalls, and there’s some doubt that the all-male crew will remain totally insensitive to her charms. The situation has further complications: Alice has a fiancé back on shore, but when she discovers that the Fidélio is captained by Gaël,...
- 10/27/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Dog Day Afternoon: Roskam Sets Romance Amidst Insider Heist
Coming off the white hot success of his hard hitting, Oscar nominated debut, Bullhead, Michaël Roskam signed on to helm a Hollywood backed crime film adapted by famed writer Dennis Lehane from the author’s own short story, Animal Rescue – an obvious next step that bears all the teetering weight that comes with the swagger of star power and the shimmer of golden statues. Though The Drop fails to live up to its sky high expectations, it’s no doubt a respectable attempt at roping cheap canine melodrama within a tightly wound yarn of underground corruption and long buried familiar dirty laundry.
Speaking of laundry, the criminal epicenter of Roskam’s tale stands as a seedy bar in Brooklyn where locals come to celebrate or drown their sorrows and the pub’s rough Chechen owners come to launder their dirty money.
Coming off the white hot success of his hard hitting, Oscar nominated debut, Bullhead, Michaël Roskam signed on to helm a Hollywood backed crime film adapted by famed writer Dennis Lehane from the author’s own short story, Animal Rescue – an obvious next step that bears all the teetering weight that comes with the swagger of star power and the shimmer of golden statues. Though The Drop fails to live up to its sky high expectations, it’s no doubt a respectable attempt at roping cheap canine melodrama within a tightly wound yarn of underground corruption and long buried familiar dirty laundry.
Speaking of laundry, the criminal epicenter of Roskam’s tale stands as a seedy bar in Brooklyn where locals come to celebrate or drown their sorrows and the pub’s rough Chechen owners come to launder their dirty money.
- 9/5/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
My Afternoon With Maud’s Money: Breillat’s Most Personal Film Showcases Huppert
Catherine Breillat leaves behind the series of Grimm’s fairy tales she was adapting and returns to autobiographical resources to tell one of her own with Abuse of Weakness, which recounts a scandal from the not too distant past in which a con-man Breillat had cast in her next film swindled her out of all her money. Rigid, frigid, and icy to the core, the re-enactment is less scandalous and perhaps more perversely self-castigating, but what supersedes all aspects of both the film’s origination and directorial intent is another fascinating performance from Isabelle Huppert, the stand-in for Breillat’s on-camera persona and perhaps the warmest rendition of an adult female to appear in her filmography yet.
Prolific film director and author Maud Schoenberg (Huppert) awakens suddenly to find half her body paralyzed after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
Catherine Breillat leaves behind the series of Grimm’s fairy tales she was adapting and returns to autobiographical resources to tell one of her own with Abuse of Weakness, which recounts a scandal from the not too distant past in which a con-man Breillat had cast in her next film swindled her out of all her money. Rigid, frigid, and icy to the core, the re-enactment is less scandalous and perhaps more perversely self-castigating, but what supersedes all aspects of both the film’s origination and directorial intent is another fascinating performance from Isabelle Huppert, the stand-in for Breillat’s on-camera persona and perhaps the warmest rendition of an adult female to appear in her filmography yet.
Prolific film director and author Maud Schoenberg (Huppert) awakens suddenly to find half her body paralyzed after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
- 8/13/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The dreamy Winchester Brothers (Jensen Ackles, l, and Jared Padalecki) of Supernatural
Midway through the eighth season of the CW thriller Supernatural, our favorite Winchester brothers, Dean and Sam (played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, both of whom broke the top 10 on 2012 AfterElton Hot 100 list) are still fighting off evil demons, corrupt angels and the occasional visit to hell and/or purgatory. All without their perfect faces and hair getting too messy.
The show brought in a new showrunner, Jeremy Carver, for Season 8. We've gathered some great online TV critics to weigh in on how things are going. Do we need more Benny and Kevin? What about a Castiel spin-off (starring another Hot 100 regular, Misha Collins)? And, of course, whether this should be the final season or if there’s still plenty of life left in the show.
Our Roundtable includes Laura Prudom (Associate Editor, Huffington Post TV), Matt Fowler (Writer/Critic,...
Midway through the eighth season of the CW thriller Supernatural, our favorite Winchester brothers, Dean and Sam (played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, both of whom broke the top 10 on 2012 AfterElton Hot 100 list) are still fighting off evil demons, corrupt angels and the occasional visit to hell and/or purgatory. All without their perfect faces and hair getting too messy.
The show brought in a new showrunner, Jeremy Carver, for Season 8. We've gathered some great online TV critics to weigh in on how things are going. Do we need more Benny and Kevin? What about a Castiel spin-off (starring another Hot 100 regular, Misha Collins)? And, of course, whether this should be the final season or if there’s still plenty of life left in the show.
Our Roundtable includes Laura Prudom (Associate Editor, Huffington Post TV), Matt Fowler (Writer/Critic,...
- 1/23/2013
- by nyjimmy67
- The Backlot
Anatomie de l'enfer
Screened
Rotterdam International Film Festival
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- "Anatomie de l'enfer" is a film about sex that is not intended to be sexy. Directed by Catherine Breillat ("Romance") and featuring porn star Rocco Siffredi in a dramatic role, it's an investigation into the nature of misogyny. By putting her female character through a number of willing sexual humiliations at the hands (and more) of Siffredi, Breillat tries to show that misogyny is deeply rooted in the psyche of every man.
The numerous sex scenes with which Breillat makes her point are graphic and unpleasant. They certainly succeed as detailed examinations of misogynistic behavior, and the mentally -- but not sexually -- provocative nature of her argument should lead to some debate about the subject. But the explicit content of these scenes will mean that few people will likely see the film outside of festivals and some European countries. "Anatomie" had its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
The film starts when the Girl (Amira Casar) meets the Guy (Siffredi) in a bar. He saves her from suicide, and she invites him to take part in a sexual experiment as a result. As the Guy is homosexual and has no interest in women, she feels that he is a perfect "control specimen" for her attempt to show that underneath it all, every man is a misogynist. Over the course of four nights, she allows him to perform a number of sexual indignities on her. He penetrates her with objects and degrades her. A final scene sees the Guy clarifying his misogynistic feelings to a lout in a bar, therefore proving the Girl's argument correct.
In "Anatomie", Breillat puts forth the argument that all men hate women because they think that they dissipate and take away their power. Men defend themselves against this, Breillat says, by humiliating women. The point is very well made but suffers from a cold academicism that renders the characters simple ciphers for Breillat's ideas. Her reductive approach to her characters -- by refusing to name them, for instance -- lessens the power of her argument as they have none of the foibles and contradictions of real people. This means that it's too easy to dismiss the whole film as an artificial construct, something that diminishes its impact.
Cinematically, Breillat has made some interesting decisions. The story would naturally suggest a grunge aesthetic, but Breillat does the opposite, using subtle lighting and often framing the Girl like a Manet painting. The Guy's voice-over is delivered in a female voice -- Breillat's own -- giving rise to all kinds of psychological interpretations. The sex scenes are messy, standing as the exact opposites to the scrubbed-clean images of pornography.
Some of the imagery in "Anatomie" -- shots of a rolling ocean, for instance -- pushes it precariously close to '70s art-porn. But the literary dialogue, possibly lifted from Breillat's own source novel "Pornocratie", keeps things sufficiently intelligent. Sex is often depicted in films but rarely examined by filmmakers. However flawed, Breillat's uncompromising attempt to do so here should be applauded.
Anatomie De L'Enfer
Flach Films and CB Films present, with the participation of Canal Plus and Le Center National de la Cinematographie
Credits:
Director: Catherine Breillat
Screenwriter: Catherine Breillat, from her novel "Pornocratie"
Producer: Jean-Francois Lepetit
Directors of photography: Yorgos Arvanitis, Guillaume Schiffman, Miguel Malheiros, Susana Gomes
Sound: Carlos Pinto, Filipe Goncalves
Production designers: Pedrosa Santos, Jean-Marie Milon, Paula Szabo, Pedro Garcia
Costume designers: Valerie Guegan, Betty Martins, Catherine Meillan, Sanine Schlumberger
Editors: Pascale Chavance, Frederic Barbe
Cast:
The Girl: Amira Casar
The Guy: Rocco Siffredi
Wateland Lovers: Alexandre Belin, Manuel Taglang
Barfly: Jacques Monge
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Rotterdam International Film Festival
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- "Anatomie de l'enfer" is a film about sex that is not intended to be sexy. Directed by Catherine Breillat ("Romance") and featuring porn star Rocco Siffredi in a dramatic role, it's an investigation into the nature of misogyny. By putting her female character through a number of willing sexual humiliations at the hands (and more) of Siffredi, Breillat tries to show that misogyny is deeply rooted in the psyche of every man.
The numerous sex scenes with which Breillat makes her point are graphic and unpleasant. They certainly succeed as detailed examinations of misogynistic behavior, and the mentally -- but not sexually -- provocative nature of her argument should lead to some debate about the subject. But the explicit content of these scenes will mean that few people will likely see the film outside of festivals and some European countries. "Anatomie" had its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
The film starts when the Girl (Amira Casar) meets the Guy (Siffredi) in a bar. He saves her from suicide, and she invites him to take part in a sexual experiment as a result. As the Guy is homosexual and has no interest in women, she feels that he is a perfect "control specimen" for her attempt to show that underneath it all, every man is a misogynist. Over the course of four nights, she allows him to perform a number of sexual indignities on her. He penetrates her with objects and degrades her. A final scene sees the Guy clarifying his misogynistic feelings to a lout in a bar, therefore proving the Girl's argument correct.
In "Anatomie", Breillat puts forth the argument that all men hate women because they think that they dissipate and take away their power. Men defend themselves against this, Breillat says, by humiliating women. The point is very well made but suffers from a cold academicism that renders the characters simple ciphers for Breillat's ideas. Her reductive approach to her characters -- by refusing to name them, for instance -- lessens the power of her argument as they have none of the foibles and contradictions of real people. This means that it's too easy to dismiss the whole film as an artificial construct, something that diminishes its impact.
Cinematically, Breillat has made some interesting decisions. The story would naturally suggest a grunge aesthetic, but Breillat does the opposite, using subtle lighting and often framing the Girl like a Manet painting. The Guy's voice-over is delivered in a female voice -- Breillat's own -- giving rise to all kinds of psychological interpretations. The sex scenes are messy, standing as the exact opposites to the scrubbed-clean images of pornography.
Some of the imagery in "Anatomie" -- shots of a rolling ocean, for instance -- pushes it precariously close to '70s art-porn. But the literary dialogue, possibly lifted from Breillat's own source novel "Pornocratie", keeps things sufficiently intelligent. Sex is often depicted in films but rarely examined by filmmakers. However flawed, Breillat's uncompromising attempt to do so here should be applauded.
Anatomie De L'Enfer
Flach Films and CB Films present, with the participation of Canal Plus and Le Center National de la Cinematographie
Credits:
Director: Catherine Breillat
Screenwriter: Catherine Breillat, from her novel "Pornocratie"
Producer: Jean-Francois Lepetit
Directors of photography: Yorgos Arvanitis, Guillaume Schiffman, Miguel Malheiros, Susana Gomes
Sound: Carlos Pinto, Filipe Goncalves
Production designers: Pedrosa Santos, Jean-Marie Milon, Paula Szabo, Pedro Garcia
Costume designers: Valerie Guegan, Betty Martins, Catherine Meillan, Sanine Schlumberger
Editors: Pascale Chavance, Frederic Barbe
Cast:
The Girl: Amira Casar
The Guy: Rocco Siffredi
Wateland Lovers: Alexandre Belin, Manuel Taglang
Barfly: Jacques Monge
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Anatomie de l'enfer
Screened
Rotterdam International Film Festival
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- "Anatomie de l'enfer" is a film about sex that is not intended to be sexy. Directed by Catherine Breillat ("Romance") and featuring porn star Rocco Siffredi in a dramatic role, it's an investigation into the nature of misogyny. By putting her female character through a number of willing sexual humiliations at the hands (and more) of Siffredi, Breillat tries to show that misogyny is deeply rooted in the psyche of every man.
The numerous sex scenes with which Breillat makes her point are graphic and unpleasant. They certainly succeed as detailed examinations of misogynistic behavior, and the mentally -- but not sexually -- provocative nature of her argument should lead to some debate about the subject. But the explicit content of these scenes will mean that few people will likely see the film outside of festivals and some European countries. "Anatomie" had its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
The film starts when the Girl (Amira Casar) meets the Guy (Siffredi) in a bar. He saves her from suicide, and she invites him to take part in a sexual experiment as a result. As the Guy is homosexual and has no interest in women, she feels that he is a perfect "control specimen" for her attempt to show that underneath it all, every man is a misogynist. Over the course of four nights, she allows him to perform a number of sexual indignities on her. He penetrates her with objects and degrades her. A final scene sees the Guy clarifying his misogynistic feelings to a lout in a bar, therefore proving the Girl's argument correct.
In "Anatomie", Breillat puts forth the argument that all men hate women because they think that they dissipate and take away their power. Men defend themselves against this, Breillat says, by humiliating women. The point is very well made but suffers from a cold academicism that renders the characters simple ciphers for Breillat's ideas. Her reductive approach to her characters -- by refusing to name them, for instance -- lessens the power of her argument as they have none of the foibles and contradictions of real people. This means that it's too easy to dismiss the whole film as an artificial construct, something that diminishes its impact.
Cinematically, Breillat has made some interesting decisions. The story would naturally suggest a grunge aesthetic, but Breillat does the opposite, using subtle lighting and often framing the Girl like a Manet painting. The Guy's voice-over is delivered in a female voice -- Breillat's own -- giving rise to all kinds of psychological interpretations. The sex scenes are messy, standing as the exact opposites to the scrubbed-clean images of pornography.
Some of the imagery in "Anatomie" -- shots of a rolling ocean, for instance -- pushes it precariously close to '70s art-porn. But the literary dialogue, possibly lifted from Breillat's own source novel "Pornocratie", keeps things sufficiently intelligent. Sex is often depicted in films but rarely examined by filmmakers. However flawed, Breillat's uncompromising attempt to do so here should be applauded.
Anatomie De L'Enfer
Flach Films and CB Films present, with the participation of Canal Plus and Le Center National de la Cinematographie
Credits:
Director: Catherine Breillat
Screenwriter: Catherine Breillat, from her novel "Pornocratie"
Producer: Jean-Francois Lepetit
Directors of photography: Yorgos Arvanitis, Guillaume Schiffman, Miguel Malheiros, Susana Gomes
Sound: Carlos Pinto, Filipe Goncalves
Production designers: Pedrosa Santos, Jean-Marie Milon, Paula Szabo, Pedro Garcia
Costume designers: Valerie Guegan, Betty Martins, Catherine Meillan, Sanine Schlumberger
Editors: Pascale Chavance, Frederic Barbe
Cast:
The Girl: Amira Casar
The Guy: Rocco Siffredi
Wateland Lovers: Alexandre Belin, Manuel Taglang
Barfly: Jacques Monge
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Rotterdam International Film Festival
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- "Anatomie de l'enfer" is a film about sex that is not intended to be sexy. Directed by Catherine Breillat ("Romance") and featuring porn star Rocco Siffredi in a dramatic role, it's an investigation into the nature of misogyny. By putting her female character through a number of willing sexual humiliations at the hands (and more) of Siffredi, Breillat tries to show that misogyny is deeply rooted in the psyche of every man.
The numerous sex scenes with which Breillat makes her point are graphic and unpleasant. They certainly succeed as detailed examinations of misogynistic behavior, and the mentally -- but not sexually -- provocative nature of her argument should lead to some debate about the subject. But the explicit content of these scenes will mean that few people will likely see the film outside of festivals and some European countries. "Anatomie" had its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
The film starts when the Girl (Amira Casar) meets the Guy (Siffredi) in a bar. He saves her from suicide, and she invites him to take part in a sexual experiment as a result. As the Guy is homosexual and has no interest in women, she feels that he is a perfect "control specimen" for her attempt to show that underneath it all, every man is a misogynist. Over the course of four nights, she allows him to perform a number of sexual indignities on her. He penetrates her with objects and degrades her. A final scene sees the Guy clarifying his misogynistic feelings to a lout in a bar, therefore proving the Girl's argument correct.
In "Anatomie", Breillat puts forth the argument that all men hate women because they think that they dissipate and take away their power. Men defend themselves against this, Breillat says, by humiliating women. The point is very well made but suffers from a cold academicism that renders the characters simple ciphers for Breillat's ideas. Her reductive approach to her characters -- by refusing to name them, for instance -- lessens the power of her argument as they have none of the foibles and contradictions of real people. This means that it's too easy to dismiss the whole film as an artificial construct, something that diminishes its impact.
Cinematically, Breillat has made some interesting decisions. The story would naturally suggest a grunge aesthetic, but Breillat does the opposite, using subtle lighting and often framing the Girl like a Manet painting. The Guy's voice-over is delivered in a female voice -- Breillat's own -- giving rise to all kinds of psychological interpretations. The sex scenes are messy, standing as the exact opposites to the scrubbed-clean images of pornography.
Some of the imagery in "Anatomie" -- shots of a rolling ocean, for instance -- pushes it precariously close to '70s art-porn. But the literary dialogue, possibly lifted from Breillat's own source novel "Pornocratie", keeps things sufficiently intelligent. Sex is often depicted in films but rarely examined by filmmakers. However flawed, Breillat's uncompromising attempt to do so here should be applauded.
Anatomie De L'Enfer
Flach Films and CB Films present, with the participation of Canal Plus and Le Center National de la Cinematographie
Credits:
Director: Catherine Breillat
Screenwriter: Catherine Breillat, from her novel "Pornocratie"
Producer: Jean-Francois Lepetit
Directors of photography: Yorgos Arvanitis, Guillaume Schiffman, Miguel Malheiros, Susana Gomes
Sound: Carlos Pinto, Filipe Goncalves
Production designers: Pedrosa Santos, Jean-Marie Milon, Paula Szabo, Pedro Garcia
Costume designers: Valerie Guegan, Betty Martins, Catherine Meillan, Sanine Schlumberger
Editors: Pascale Chavance, Frederic Barbe
Cast:
The Girl: Amira Casar
The Guy: Rocco Siffredi
Wateland Lovers: Alexandre Belin, Manuel Taglang
Barfly: Jacques Monge
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/10/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Romance'
France's reputation as the land of ooh-la-la takes a serious hit in Catherine Breillat's "Romance". While there is sex galore in the ironically titled film, the physical act itself is depicted with all the allure of a root canal operation.
If Trimark expects to see any coin from this slow-moving and pretentious art house film, it will have to hype the very thing the film so poorly stages -- the explicit sexual encounters. But word of mouth from disappointed adults may doom any hopes of a long theatrical run.
"Romance" caused a stir in France last spring with much of the media fuss centering on Breillat's decision to cast Italian porno star Rocco Siffredi in her film. Interest was further goosed by the film's poster, which showed a close-up of a woman masturbating with a red X splashed across the photograph.
But then the French tend to take this kind of self-absorbed, overintellectualized claptrap seriously. Americans on the other hand are more likely to shake their heads over a philosophical controversy inspired by scenes such as a middle-aged man struggling for several minutes to tie up a woman that has all the eroticism of a man under the hood of his car trying to start the engine.
Writer-director Breillat's insistence that her film is an exploration of female sexuality from a female point of view is, at best, misleading. It is rather an exploration of female sexuality from the point of view of a particular woman who, clearly, is angry at men and sees romantic love as, to quote the press notes, "merely a transitory stage in the battle between the sexes."
Her heroine, Marie, is played by Caroline Ducey, a young actress who spends most of her scenes with her hair in her face. She sails into the night in search of sexual misadventure after a cruel and egomaniacal boyfriend (Sagamore Stevenin) informs her that he is no longer aroused by her and refuses to make love to her.
Thus, Marie experiences a bar pick-up (porn king Siffredi), a school principal doing advanced studies in S&M (Francois Berleand) and an encounter that is more or less a rape (and by casting a North African as the rapist this incident contains a whiff of racism to boot).
These encounters are played out in unadorned and drab interiors with virtually no music and an excess of dialogue -- both Marie's inner monologues and verbose dialogue exchanges. Long takes and few camera angles gave Breillat's editor scant resources to enliven these scenes.
Throughout the film, Breillat portrays Marie as a victim. But what victim? She more than gets even with her zombie-like boyfriend by the movie's end. She willfully entices if not demands every humiliating sex act. And she winds up with what she desires most -- a baby.
"Romance" has little to do with female desire. Rather the film once again illustrates the veracity of that ancient wisdom that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
ROMANCE
Trimark Pictures
Rezo Films
Producer: Jean-Francois Lepetit
Writer-director: Catherine Breillat
Director of photography: Yorgos Arvanitis
Production designer: Frederique Belvaux
Music: D.J. Valentin
Costume designer: Ann Dunsford Varenne
Editor: Anges Guillemot
Color/stereo
Cast:
Marie: Caroline Ducey
Paul: Sagamore Stevenin
Robert: Francois Berleand
Paolo: Rocco Siffredi
Running time -- 105 minutes
No MPAA rating...
If Trimark expects to see any coin from this slow-moving and pretentious art house film, it will have to hype the very thing the film so poorly stages -- the explicit sexual encounters. But word of mouth from disappointed adults may doom any hopes of a long theatrical run.
"Romance" caused a stir in France last spring with much of the media fuss centering on Breillat's decision to cast Italian porno star Rocco Siffredi in her film. Interest was further goosed by the film's poster, which showed a close-up of a woman masturbating with a red X splashed across the photograph.
But then the French tend to take this kind of self-absorbed, overintellectualized claptrap seriously. Americans on the other hand are more likely to shake their heads over a philosophical controversy inspired by scenes such as a middle-aged man struggling for several minutes to tie up a woman that has all the eroticism of a man under the hood of his car trying to start the engine.
Writer-director Breillat's insistence that her film is an exploration of female sexuality from a female point of view is, at best, misleading. It is rather an exploration of female sexuality from the point of view of a particular woman who, clearly, is angry at men and sees romantic love as, to quote the press notes, "merely a transitory stage in the battle between the sexes."
Her heroine, Marie, is played by Caroline Ducey, a young actress who spends most of her scenes with her hair in her face. She sails into the night in search of sexual misadventure after a cruel and egomaniacal boyfriend (Sagamore Stevenin) informs her that he is no longer aroused by her and refuses to make love to her.
Thus, Marie experiences a bar pick-up (porn king Siffredi), a school principal doing advanced studies in S&M (Francois Berleand) and an encounter that is more or less a rape (and by casting a North African as the rapist this incident contains a whiff of racism to boot).
These encounters are played out in unadorned and drab interiors with virtually no music and an excess of dialogue -- both Marie's inner monologues and verbose dialogue exchanges. Long takes and few camera angles gave Breillat's editor scant resources to enliven these scenes.
Throughout the film, Breillat portrays Marie as a victim. But what victim? She more than gets even with her zombie-like boyfriend by the movie's end. She willfully entices if not demands every humiliating sex act. And she winds up with what she desires most -- a baby.
"Romance" has little to do with female desire. Rather the film once again illustrates the veracity of that ancient wisdom that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
ROMANCE
Trimark Pictures
Rezo Films
Producer: Jean-Francois Lepetit
Writer-director: Catherine Breillat
Director of photography: Yorgos Arvanitis
Production designer: Frederique Belvaux
Music: D.J. Valentin
Costume designer: Ann Dunsford Varenne
Editor: Anges Guillemot
Color/stereo
Cast:
Marie: Caroline Ducey
Paul: Sagamore Stevenin
Robert: Francois Berleand
Paolo: Rocco Siffredi
Running time -- 105 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/17/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.