In the toilets of a gay club an unnamed woman (Amira Casar) attempts to slit her wrists, but is stopped by an unnamed gay man (Rocco Siffredi). Later that night they strike a deal – she will pay him to examined her in the most intimate ways possible and report to her on his impressions of her as a woman – a task she believes no woman or straight man is capable of. Their nights together unravel in a graphic analysis of sexuality, as they test and explore each other in increasingly gruesome ways.
Catherine Breillat’s film, based on her own novel ‘pornocratie’ is nothing if not challenging, from her depictions of real sex to the more challenging physical and emotional moments. Unfortunately, while it asks interesting moral questions, the film runs like one of her own essays: clinical, unfeasibly wordy, and at times clumsy in its execution.
The performances are decent, despite the dialogue the actors are working with. Whilst the man’s ruminations on the fragility of women are apt, there’s an unrealistic articulacy there. The fact is, nobody actually talks like these characters and, despite their nudity, it ruins the intimacy Breillat is trying to create. There’s earnestness in their faces, but the drivel they speak is without real-life anchor and deflates the apparent realism. And for all her attempts to break the mould, her characters – the slut queen and the woman-hating queer – are stereotypical at best.
As far as the graphic sex and nudity the film is so recognised for, it’s often disappointing. For every lovingly crafted shot, there’s some so laughable I don’t know who Breillat was trying to fool. With geysers of menstrual blood and the ability to prop up a garden hoe, the Amazing Performing Vagina on screen is hardly one women are going to be able to compare with their own, and men will either run screaming or look disconcertedly between their girlfriends thighs for the monster that apparently lies within.
For all it shortcomings, though, Anatomy of Hell is an interesting experiment in human sexuality. Don’t watch it if you find any sort of romanticisim – indeed pleasure – in sex, but if you can watch this objectively and without feeling squeamish, there are elements of insight to be drawn from this generally disappointing film.
Catherine Breillat’s film, based on her own novel ‘pornocratie’ is nothing if not challenging, from her depictions of real sex to the more challenging physical and emotional moments. Unfortunately, while it asks interesting moral questions, the film runs like one of her own essays: clinical, unfeasibly wordy, and at times clumsy in its execution.
The performances are decent, despite the dialogue the actors are working with. Whilst the man’s ruminations on the fragility of women are apt, there’s an unrealistic articulacy there. The fact is, nobody actually talks like these characters and, despite their nudity, it ruins the intimacy Breillat is trying to create. There’s earnestness in their faces, but the drivel they speak is without real-life anchor and deflates the apparent realism. And for all her attempts to break the mould, her characters – the slut queen and the woman-hating queer – are stereotypical at best.
As far as the graphic sex and nudity the film is so recognised for, it’s often disappointing. For every lovingly crafted shot, there’s some so laughable I don’t know who Breillat was trying to fool. With geysers of menstrual blood and the ability to prop up a garden hoe, the Amazing Performing Vagina on screen is hardly one women are going to be able to compare with their own, and men will either run screaming or look disconcertedly between their girlfriends thighs for the monster that apparently lies within.
For all it shortcomings, though, Anatomy of Hell is an interesting experiment in human sexuality. Don’t watch it if you find any sort of romanticisim – indeed pleasure – in sex, but if you can watch this objectively and without feeling squeamish, there are elements of insight to be drawn from this generally disappointing film.
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