Post by Fickle81 on Jun 11, 2008 23:10:11 GMT -5
Instead of coming up with my own wording of the film's plot,and in order to have this review as spoiler free as possible,I'll simply quote IMDB's synopsis of the film:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0082933/plotsummary
A young woman (Isabelle Adjani) left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband (Sam Neill) determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects a man (Heinz Bennent) is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.
This is a rather emotionally intense,angry,and nihilistic film about the collapse of a marriage mixed with surrealistic horror. In fact,some people might be turned off by how loud and intense a lot of the acting is in the film,especially Isabelle Adjani's 3+ minute "wig out" sequence (some might consider it to be overacting,but thats the point). The cinematography ranges from artsy (particular scene with a rocking chair) to uncomfortably voyeuristic (the domestic quarrels between the main characters)...sometimes a certain character even breaks the forth wall. The score consists of simple little noises like ratchet scrapes (which sometimes seem to affect and influence character actions) and music pieces that have a Fabio Frizzi sound to them.
Now that all the technical stuff is out of the way,this film reminded me of many things:
David Cronenberg:A lot of the surrealism in the film is very Cronenberg-esque. Matter of fact,this film often gets compared to The Brood because,as Cronenberg did for that film,Polish writter and director Andrzej Zulawski created this during the midst of an ugly divorce...and yea,you'll definatly be able to feel his anger,sadness,and frustration while watching this.
Audition:The film's structure reminded me of Takashi Miike's Audition quite a bit in the sense that at first the film appears to be just a normal drama about a marraige falling apart due to adultery,but then after a huge chunk of time passes,it suddenly becomes a bizarre surrealistic trip...I'm NOT gonna spoil how this happens,you'll just have to see it for yourself (if you can,but we'll get to that towards the end of the review).
Silent Hill 2:The game,like this film,makes use of doppleganger characters in the context of love and how a certain individual wants their significant other to be like...so much so that I believe that this film was an influence on that aspect of the game,seeing as how the film predates the game by 20 years (the film came out during the year I was born,but thats besides the point and not on task).
A film idea of mine:I've had a surrealistic film idea in my head for awhile now that has a major love theme in it accompanied by religious symbolism and imagery...well,this film ALSO has this,but done differently...this film is kinda the antithesis of my idea,whereas my idea is about trying to find an unobtainable love,while this film is about losing obtained love.
Now,like The Signal,this is going to be a rather difficult film in which to fully judge flaws because while I do have problems with certain aspects of it,I also can see the point and understand some of the things I have problems with. First thing,the alternate love interest Heinrich (Heinz Bennent)...couldn't stand the guy...he's so goddamn over the top with his sexuality (in how he dresses and moves) and his attitude...however Zulawski does this on purpose as a way to show the stereotypical egotistical homewrecking male and MAKE you hate him. Next would be Mark's (Sam Neill) "nervous breakdown" in a hotel room very early on in the film...it was so overdone that it didn't come off as a nervous breakdown,but rather heroin withdrawl...but there again,Zulawski could be making a statement about love being like a drug,so that also could have been done purposefully. Another thing that kinda doesn't sit well with me is that the doppleganger subplot seems rather underdeveloped,but even so,it DOES serves a purpose so again,I can't fully spank it. There was also the issue that the couple were so caught up in their ongoing spats that there are times where their son Bob gets completely neglected and is left to his own devices...while this is definatly gross irresponsibility on their parts,it is a rather emotionally straining crisis,so it can be somewhat understood.
Major spoiler coming up!
Then there was the thing that when Mark found out what was really going on,he decided to aid his wife and her "lover",going to great lenghs to do so,even risking his life...I don't understand this,yet at the same time,I do...you'll either take it or leave it,but I'm on the fence.
End spoiler:
Now there are also flaws that I do NOT see the point of. First,whenever the main characters would begin one of their many fights in the film,their son seemingly disappears completely from the apartment...there was even one fight that took place litterally seconds after Bob and his mother spent time together,not enough time for him to disappear from the premises completely,so unless he was hiding in a closet or something,this makes no sense...there should have been some kind of scene in which the viewer can see that the child is aware of a fight that just took place and his feelings on it. Then there was also a certain male character that was allowed to live eventhough 2 others that were in the same exact situation were killed...and he was allowed to live in order to force the plot to go in the direction that it does (yep,more of that). And while I understood most of the significance of the film's symbolic imagery (religious and whatnot),there was constint references to dead dogs which I didn't and still don't get the symbolic relevence of. Finally,what I saw was the 123 minute uncut version...this runs a tad bit too long and the pacing sometimes suffers from it (a few of the scenes with Mark talking to Heinrich's mother were unneeded).
Then theres the ending,which if I had to describe in one word,it would be bizarre...so much so that you may litterally utter "what the hell" out loud. Theres certain aspects about it I understand,but there are also certain aspects that,over a week after I've seen it,I still don't get (especially those final frames in particular),and since I can't find any in depth analysis of said ending,due to the film being so obscure (not to mention rare and hard to find,even through downloading...thankfully I got lucky on that end),I can't even get a real concrete idea.
All in all though,I personally enjoyed the film,but it could very well be a mixed bag for everybody else. It's definatly a film that requires multiple viewings in order to grasp some of its surrealistic nature,like a lot of other films of this ilk (like most things with the names Lynch,Cronenberg,and Miike on them). This is a love it or hate it movie. Sometimes it can be a tad pretensious and extremely over the top with its themes and messages. Some horror fans might find it not horrific enough for their tastes. But it constintly goes out of its way in order to be effective,making for a viewing experience thats going to stick with you whether you like it or not.
4/5