I was lucky to watch the premiere of both parts in a "one-night stand" and follow the Q&A with Stacy Martin, Sophie Kennedy Clark and Stellan Skarsgård. The film is esthetically and stylistically stunning, each scene has an air of perfection and the actors are performing magnificently considering the highly controversial topics that the director is so kin to analyze in detail. Each time I have been thinking about the film, I am finding out that there are more readings, more interpretations and more things to discover.The film is therefore multilayered, highly metaphorical and deeply philosophical. Indeed the film is a celebration of female sexuality but more importantly it might be seen as a critic to western and Euro-American perceptions of sexuality, gender and eroticism. It draws largely from the work of Michel Foucault as the film is unraveled around the "repressive hypothesis", the argument that the obsession with sexuality derives from the confessional ethic of the counter reformation in Europe. As it touches upon "the Perverse Implantation"and how that relates to marriage, he discusses power by the "deployment of sexuality" in relation to obedience, domination and submission and the use of pleasure. The director is also deeply influenced by George Bataille as there are references of his work in a number of scenes including the religious interpretation of sacrifice on the cross for Christ, the arousal-erection of the genitals of the dead body (death and eroticism) and the conceptualization of transgression in most scenes. The director's reading of Hegel derives once again from Alexandre Kojève as there is a deep emphasis on the slave and master relationship and their approach towards death which is also the epitome of the film. No doubt there are also various references to Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch but the director is also influenced by Aragon and other avant garde authors. It is therefore no exaggeration to say that the scenario is really excellent; to understand it and decipher it though it requires a lot of reading and preparation that is really worth doing.
