This little waking-up-the-day-after short is, once again, a testimony to how audaciously confident Ozon is in his film-making abilities. As with most of his shorts, this one is subversive - it seems very disjointed and unfinished, but it's actually very cleverly constructed, with a beginning, middle and an end.
7 Reviews
An unfinished fragment
raymond-1528 June 2001
A very short film of 8 minutes.It's morning and the characters are sleeping it off after a New Year's Eve party. We all know the feeling and understandably there is little dialogue. Francois Ozon who wrote and directed the film has his naked characters wandering listlessly around the high-rise apartment. While drinking his "Alka-Seltzer" the man watches a couple engaging in sex in a neighbouring apartment. When he drops his glass and gathers up the broken pieces he spots a crawling mass of large black ants underneath the kitchen bin. He seems dazed at the sight of them and exclaims to his girl friend that the ants are attacking. Francois Ozon is in one of his teasing moods, I think. He only tells so much, leaves so much unsaid. It's strange when you come to think of it that the ants could appear on the umpteenth storey, and do they have any significance? I think Ozon is leaving it to each of us to finish off the film as we would have it. As it is, it's just an unfinished fragment begging for an ending!l
Short cuts
jotix10021 August 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Francois Ozon is one of the best new directors that have appeared on the French cinema's scene in the last two decades. "X200" is a collection of short films Mr. Ozon created, perhaps for his own amusement, since the format doesn't allow for commercial distribution. For a little more than one hour the director tries to give us an insight of how his mind works. It shows a playful and relaxed Francois Ozon.
The best tale of the ones presented is without a doubt, "La Petite Morte", in which a young gay photographer comes to terms with his dying father, a hated figure who he blames for everything that is wrong in his life. His sister, who has come to take him for a visit at the hospital, is shocked to find him taking pictures of the sick man, who appears to be a terminal cancer patient. The irony of the film comes at the end as the sister gives this young man some family pictures that show how his hatred for the old man was wrong.
"Scenes De Lit" also illustrate how the director deals with sex. In "Truth or Dare", four teens are playing the game with a sexual twist. "X2000" shows us a young man who is hungover and discovers ants in the kitchen, in one of the most enjoyable short in the picture. The funniest being, the one about the prostitute whose specialty is singing "La Marselleise" while performing on a customer, who must pay extra for the privilege! All in all, we are left wishing for more, but we are thankful for watching this collection, as it's clear Francois Ozon was in a playful mood when he decided to put all these short takes together.
The best tale of the ones presented is without a doubt, "La Petite Morte", in which a young gay photographer comes to terms with his dying father, a hated figure who he blames for everything that is wrong in his life. His sister, who has come to take him for a visit at the hospital, is shocked to find him taking pictures of the sick man, who appears to be a terminal cancer patient. The irony of the film comes at the end as the sister gives this young man some family pictures that show how his hatred for the old man was wrong.
"Scenes De Lit" also illustrate how the director deals with sex. In "Truth or Dare", four teens are playing the game with a sexual twist. "X2000" shows us a young man who is hungover and discovers ants in the kitchen, in one of the most enjoyable short in the picture. The funniest being, the one about the prostitute whose specialty is singing "La Marselleise" while performing on a customer, who must pay extra for the privilege! All in all, we are left wishing for more, but we are thankful for watching this collection, as it's clear Francois Ozon was in a playful mood when he decided to put all these short takes together.
A fascinating eight-minute sketch of a film from the always inventive Francois Ozon
ThreeSadTigers20 April 2008
There seems to be two very distinct arcs to the career of Francois Ozon. On the one hand, we have a cinema of reference, with films like Sitcom (1998), Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000) and 8 Women (2002) taking influence from the disparate likes of Buñuel, Fassbinder, Sirk and Minnelli. On the other hand we have a cinema of examination, with projects like Under the Sand (2000), Swimming Pool (2003) and 5x2 (2004) looking at characters trapped-insect like beneath a distancing sheet of glass and dealing exclusively with heavily-wrought personal issues devoid of the more obvious fun and frivolity. X 2000 (1998), an eight minute project about time, perspective and pre-millennium tensions, would seem to be closer in tone to the latter approach; with the sense of wit and humour of some of the director's more colourful works being replaced by an almost Haneke-like feeling of cold, clinical abstraction.
At the minimal eight minutes in length this is obviously something that will be seen, quite rightly, as a vague sketch of a work; one that feels unfinished and unfocused or indeed, as an early experiment into the same thematic territory of Swimming Pool and 5x2. The plot, as discussed by other reviewers, is slight to the point of seeming nonexistence; a vague accumulation of scenes intended to create a greater whole, as opposed to a sense of cohesion. It does tell a story, though one that remains indistinct and enigmatic; entirely undone by the subtly of Ozon's direction and the broad opportunities of interpretation offered by the particular use of iconography. In my mind, it is a film about looking and seeing. Or not seeing? Regardless, there is an interesting germ of an idea presented in this short film wherein the central character looks without necessarily intending to look, and discovers things. In the first instance, there's the sight of a women bathing from his apartment window. In the second, he discovered a colony of ants in his kitchen.
Alongside these images there are allusions to the constant sex and death motif, with naked forms in a still and silent embrace, and further ideas of cleansing, confusion, freedom and alienation. These issues are conflicting and contradictory, thrown together in a jumble but clearly leading to something with meaning. Perhaps all of this is pointing towards the kind of revelations eventually discovered in a film like Swimming Pool, with its notions of sight and perception, seeing without looking, looking without finding, etc. Again, at eight minutes, X 2000 is far too slight to really dig any deeper or find the answers that we're looking for, but regardless, there's something undeniable fascinating about the film and about the way in which Ozone has carefully put it together.
At the minimal eight minutes in length this is obviously something that will be seen, quite rightly, as a vague sketch of a work; one that feels unfinished and unfocused or indeed, as an early experiment into the same thematic territory of Swimming Pool and 5x2. The plot, as discussed by other reviewers, is slight to the point of seeming nonexistence; a vague accumulation of scenes intended to create a greater whole, as opposed to a sense of cohesion. It does tell a story, though one that remains indistinct and enigmatic; entirely undone by the subtly of Ozon's direction and the broad opportunities of interpretation offered by the particular use of iconography. In my mind, it is a film about looking and seeing. Or not seeing? Regardless, there is an interesting germ of an idea presented in this short film wherein the central character looks without necessarily intending to look, and discovers things. In the first instance, there's the sight of a women bathing from his apartment window. In the second, he discovered a colony of ants in his kitchen.
Alongside these images there are allusions to the constant sex and death motif, with naked forms in a still and silent embrace, and further ideas of cleansing, confusion, freedom and alienation. These issues are conflicting and contradictory, thrown together in a jumble but clearly leading to something with meaning. Perhaps all of this is pointing towards the kind of revelations eventually discovered in a film like Swimming Pool, with its notions of sight and perception, seeing without looking, looking without finding, etc. Again, at eight minutes, X 2000 is far too slight to really dig any deeper or find the answers that we're looking for, but regardless, there's something undeniable fascinating about the film and about the way in which Ozone has carefully put it together.
The morning after
Horst_In_Translation23 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"X2000" is a French 8-minute live action short film from 1998, so this one will already be 20 years old next year. It was written and directed by François Ozon and he was around the age of 30 back then and already a pretty prolific filmmaker at that point, yet of course not as well-known as he is today. Anyway, I must say this little movie we have here does not really feature any actors I have heard of before I think, but maybe French audiences have. In any case, the language here is so minimal in terms of the few words French spoken in here that you can probably even watch it without subtitles. It is the story of a man who wakes up in the morning and looking at what and who he finds in the apartment it must have been a pretty wild party the night before. But from a cinematic and artistic perspective I cannot say this film was a success or even great watch. It is bearable for its runtime, but really forgettable compared to some of the more recent stuff Ozon has done. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended unless you are a huge Ozon fan and try to see all his stuff.
Art as mute cry
Vincentiu6 May 2007
First morning of 2000. A naked man , a woman in sleep, a couple who makes sex, twin brothers in a nook, ants and the woman in bathroom. 8 minutes and brief dialog.
"X2000" is a brilliant self-definition of Ozon's art. The slices of silence, the gestures, the sound of words,the light and discoveries are parts of a same game with the public, a provocation but, in many occasions, a subversive existential question.
At first sight, this film is a Rene Magritte 's works. Or piece of a film about crisis or disputes, sins and marriage.
In fact, it is one Francois Ozon sample. Ironic, subtle and sarcastic, with images from surrealism and trap for sensitivity of a special audience, with traces of expressionism and kitsch, with an dark humor and exploration of world, people, reactions and silences as entomologist.
"X2000" is key for "Piscine", "Sitcom" or "8 femmes". Definition of existence in terms of skeptical vision and childish curiosity for explore the bones of illusions.
Twoo characters are presents in this film: the search and the ants. The desire to discover the sense of things/life/gesture and the sense in pure form. And then- the protective shadow of anxiety.
So, a magnificent short- film about nothing. Or a good occasion for self introspection.
The art as mute cry.
"X2000" is a brilliant self-definition of Ozon's art. The slices of silence, the gestures, the sound of words,the light and discoveries are parts of a same game with the public, a provocation but, in many occasions, a subversive existential question.
At first sight, this film is a Rene Magritte 's works. Or piece of a film about crisis or disputes, sins and marriage.
In fact, it is one Francois Ozon sample. Ironic, subtle and sarcastic, with images from surrealism and trap for sensitivity of a special audience, with traces of expressionism and kitsch, with an dark humor and exploration of world, people, reactions and silences as entomologist.
"X2000" is key for "Piscine", "Sitcom" or "8 femmes". Definition of existence in terms of skeptical vision and childish curiosity for explore the bones of illusions.
Twoo characters are presents in this film: the search and the ants. The desire to discover the sense of things/life/gesture and the sense in pure form. And then- the protective shadow of anxiety.
So, a magnificent short- film about nothing. Or a good occasion for self introspection.
The art as mute cry.
A minimalistic short film that is open for interpretation
Gordon-1119 December 2012
This short film chronicles a man's discovery around his flat, after he wakes up from the new year party of the new millennium.
"X2000" is a minimalistic short film. It is just six minutes long, and the remaining two minutes are credits. It shows how the man wakes up, walking around the flat completely naked. He sees two men cuddled up in a sleeping bag. He sees a couple having sex in the opposite building. His girlfriend gets into a bath. Then he sees something under the bin. Such trivial everyday happenings are shown, and the purpose of the film is left for the viewer to interpret. I notice, the man looks very dazed with vacant stares towards the front, so maybe he is under the influence. Another interpretation I made is the disappointment of the girlfriend after she walks into the living room, seeing the man against the window.
"X2000" is a minimalistic short film. It is just six minutes long, and the remaining two minutes are credits. It shows how the man wakes up, walking around the flat completely naked. He sees two men cuddled up in a sleeping bag. He sees a couple having sex in the opposite building. His girlfriend gets into a bath. Then he sees something under the bin. Such trivial everyday happenings are shown, and the purpose of the film is left for the viewer to interpret. I notice, the man looks very dazed with vacant stares towards the front, so maybe he is under the influence. Another interpretation I made is the disappointment of the girlfriend after she walks into the living room, seeing the man against the window.
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