Take it like a man. Manu and Nadine (Anderson and Bach) teach a sex-club owner a lesson.
dir-scr Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi
with Raffaela Anderson, Karen Bach, Delphine McCarty, Lisa Marshall,
Estelle Isaac, HPG, Marc Rioufol, Ouassini Embarek,
Adama Niane, Christophe Claudy, Patrick Eudeline, Gabor Rassov
release US 1.Jun.01; UK 3.May.02
01/France 1h27
This notorious French film combines a violent road movie with pornography to make a point that is probably lost somewhere amid the horrific grisliness and explicit sex. Manu and Nadine (Anderson and Bach) escape their oppressive lives leaving a trail of bodies as they cross France, exorcising their sexual frustrations by humiliating men in the most horrific ways possible. But their crimes aren't remotely limited to men, as they also attack women at random for money ... and just because they can.
This is serious in-your-face filmmaking, and you get the feeling that this is just what the filmmakers wanted. But it's also rather amateurish, roughly written and directed in such a way that it feels like students with a camera, inebriated with their filmmaking "freedom" and wanting to put the most graphic scenes on screen just because they can. As a result, the film is pornographic in both its use of sex and violence (not to mention that the cast are virtually all porn actors). The characters are intriguing, even though we never remotely care about them. And the Thelma & Louise meets True Romance story is fast-paced and energetic, even though it's badly organised and often incomprehensible. There are telling moments here and there, mostly as the film deals with issues of powerlessness. But it's just so pushy and obvious that you leave the cinema feeling like you've been bludgeoned.
| strong themes, graphic violence and sex, language |
| 18.Feb.02 |
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