It does seem like I'm re-watching several films (although I've also watched a lot of new ones, obviously), and one of them is Catherine Breillat's 2004 film Anatomy of Hell. I watched it for the first time a couple years ago and didn't like it, and decided to give it another watch and confirmed my initial opinion (although I think I liked it more this time). That said, I don't think it's a film that is meant to be liked, but rather a film that is meant to be experienced, and which is meant to make you uncomfortable. Amira Casar (in a very great and brave performance) plays a woman who tries to slit her wrists in a gay nightclub. She's saved by a gay man, which leads to the first words in the film: Man: "Why did you do that?" Woman: "Because I'm a woman." So, yeah, you know you're in for a bumpy night. The woman hires the gay man (played by Rocco Siffredi, an actual famous porn actor) to watch her for four nights and tell her what he sees. It's very graphic, which I guess explains why Breillat hired an actual porn actor for the role. Actually, I was less put off by the graphic nature of the scenes than by much of the pretty leaden dialogue, especially from the character of the man. Sort of like Belle de Jour, at the end you're not quite certain of what happens, that is, does the man commit an act or imagine that he'd like to commit an act. I can't recommend it, although I've also watched it twice, so clearly I see something there. I think I like the idea of Catherine Breillat making films more than her actual films, to which she'd no doubt say, quite rightly, "who cares?" Maybe I'll check back here later when I inevitably watch it again in three years.
No comments:
Post a Comment