It is fair to say that Catherine Breillat is a serious director, who is serious about exploring aspects of sexuality via the medium of film, and from a female's perspective. This is why I guess many people take an above average interest in what she produces. Perhaps even more so with this work - only those of the 'French New Wave' could produce films like this! Yeah right. It is apparently drawn upon her own writings and her own observations of the supposed rampant misogyny within all men, gay and straight, and the tendency for men to be more or less repulsed by females and/or their genitalia. But there are three words I found particularly apt when describing the plausibility of Breillat's 'message', as proffered here, and as it relates to this apparent misogyny. Those words are: suspension of disbelief. There are some minor spoilers here by the way, and if you were wondering what some of the more explicit elements of this film are, then read on.
Picture this if you will. The film immediately opens with a medium close up shot of a man fellating another man out in the open. Oh okay, I get the message. This film obviously depicts explicit sex of a generally non-conventional nature, so I can choose to flee the cinema if I want or need! Thanks Catherine. We shortly cross to a forlorn-looking woman who, for some unknown reason, is hanging out in a gay bar prior to her sauntering upstairs to the bathroom to slash her wrists. Saved by a very 'straight' acting and looking 'gay' man (Siffredi), upon leaving the bar and getting herself patched up, our 'gay' man is fellated by her out in the open. He somehow manages to produce an automatic erection. At this point the film has just lost me. This man is gay, no? The absurdity continued.
Our depressed female offers the man money, primarily to invite him to observe her 'femaleness'. She spends most of the time naked prior to the 'gay' man engaging with her sexually. She's out to test her theory, that all men are misogynistic. Is this for real? He seems such a natural heterosexual for a supposedly gay character! He experiences no trouble obtaining an erection with her around. He experiences an orgasm so quickly that I just cannot believe he is not actually attracted to women. He is more than happy to drink half of a reddened glass of water, after our female dips her bloodied and used tampon into it. He cannot control his urge to digitally penetrate her, and then lick her menstrual blood from his finger. The process of inserting a stone dildo inside of her vagina fascinates him, as does the ejection of the same. And he just cannot help but insert the wooden handle of a long, no doubt heavy garden implement inside of her while she sleeps. All the while we are subjected to these tedious, pretentious monologues of men's deep-seated hatred of women.
It is surely the fault of the vagina! We endure a flashback of a girl and three boys playing 'doctors and nurses', in order for us to obtain a supposedly greater understanding as to the origins of such repulsion for the female anatomy. There is even a brief shot of the little girl's genitalia, surely likely to draw consternation with censors somewhere in the world. Moreover, we are unfortunately subjected to close up shots of what could possibly rank as the foulest looking adult vagina and anus in celluloid history. But the erect penises look fine; perfect in fact. I suspect any man with a slightly confused sexual preference would surely jump to the gay side of the fence after watching this. Maybe some straight men will find the image of a naked male just a little bit more attractive after enduring these ugly images of female genitalia.
I realise that some films can be so far fetched that one is required to suspend their disbelief, for the sake of entertainment at the very least. But when a film as blatant and as occasionally explicit as this is offering forth the sweeping notion that all men are inherent misogynists, it has to be outright plausible. No depiction of sexual activity in this film is plausible. In fact, I found the 'message' downright implausible. This is not entertainment at all. It was made deliberately ugly, almost to the point of disgust. This is one hellish depiction of female anatomy that is for sure! The title is perfectly apt - it was never titillating and could not really be labelled as pornography. I did not like the way this deliberately confronting film tried to portray its message. It was ugly, pretentious, silly, implausible, and utterly sickening in parts.
Picture this if you will. The film immediately opens with a medium close up shot of a man fellating another man out in the open. Oh okay, I get the message. This film obviously depicts explicit sex of a generally non-conventional nature, so I can choose to flee the cinema if I want or need! Thanks Catherine. We shortly cross to a forlorn-looking woman who, for some unknown reason, is hanging out in a gay bar prior to her sauntering upstairs to the bathroom to slash her wrists. Saved by a very 'straight' acting and looking 'gay' man (Siffredi), upon leaving the bar and getting herself patched up, our 'gay' man is fellated by her out in the open. He somehow manages to produce an automatic erection. At this point the film has just lost me. This man is gay, no? The absurdity continued.
Our depressed female offers the man money, primarily to invite him to observe her 'femaleness'. She spends most of the time naked prior to the 'gay' man engaging with her sexually. She's out to test her theory, that all men are misogynistic. Is this for real? He seems such a natural heterosexual for a supposedly gay character! He experiences no trouble obtaining an erection with her around. He experiences an orgasm so quickly that I just cannot believe he is not actually attracted to women. He is more than happy to drink half of a reddened glass of water, after our female dips her bloodied and used tampon into it. He cannot control his urge to digitally penetrate her, and then lick her menstrual blood from his finger. The process of inserting a stone dildo inside of her vagina fascinates him, as does the ejection of the same. And he just cannot help but insert the wooden handle of a long, no doubt heavy garden implement inside of her while she sleeps. All the while we are subjected to these tedious, pretentious monologues of men's deep-seated hatred of women.
It is surely the fault of the vagina! We endure a flashback of a girl and three boys playing 'doctors and nurses', in order for us to obtain a supposedly greater understanding as to the origins of such repulsion for the female anatomy. There is even a brief shot of the little girl's genitalia, surely likely to draw consternation with censors somewhere in the world. Moreover, we are unfortunately subjected to close up shots of what could possibly rank as the foulest looking adult vagina and anus in celluloid history. But the erect penises look fine; perfect in fact. I suspect any man with a slightly confused sexual preference would surely jump to the gay side of the fence after watching this. Maybe some straight men will find the image of a naked male just a little bit more attractive after enduring these ugly images of female genitalia.
I realise that some films can be so far fetched that one is required to suspend their disbelief, for the sake of entertainment at the very least. But when a film as blatant and as occasionally explicit as this is offering forth the sweeping notion that all men are inherent misogynists, it has to be outright plausible. No depiction of sexual activity in this film is plausible. In fact, I found the 'message' downright implausible. This is not entertainment at all. It was made deliberately ugly, almost to the point of disgust. This is one hellish depiction of female anatomy that is for sure! The title is perfectly apt - it was never titillating and could not really be labelled as pornography. I did not like the way this deliberately confronting film tried to portray its message. It was ugly, pretentious, silly, implausible, and utterly sickening in parts.