Dans ma peau/ In My Skin (Marina de Van, 2002)

In My Skin (Marina de Van, 2002) is the least graphic of the many French New Extremist films, but possibly the most disturbing. The idea of focus in this film is a disassociation between mind and body. Esther (played by the films writer/director, Marina de Van) becomes incredibly interested in her own body and skin after an accident in which she does not realize how injured she was. This starts an increasingly sick venture into a dark world of self-mutilation.

The film is not nearly as dark, aesthetically, as the protagonist's journey. It is fairly high-key in lighting. It also has plenty of wide shots, which contrast with the painfully tight shots of Esther's peeling skin. The music, too, is rather incongruent. This contrast between style and content perfectly mirrors the contrast between Esther's mind and body. By the end, the cinematography becomes completely abstract and literally split into two images.

Esther's departure from reality is brought out in the use of surrealism. The most notable instance of this comes in the scene at the restaurant. Totally oblivious to the conversation happening around her, Esther begins stabbing at her arm with her steak knife. Eventually, her forearm ends up sitting on the table and she is stuck trying to act normal with her arm detached from her body.

The introduction of the idea of a subjective reality further highlights this notion of separation. This separates our protagonist from the film world. The sudden denial of the accepted rules of the film world also separates us from it, and her. This reminds us that we are experiencing a highly personal experience that really only can be understood by Esther herself.

À l'intérieur/ Inside (Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury, 2007)

Inside (Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury, 2007), besides being a painfully gruesome film to watch, offers quite a bit to talk about in terms of gender. More specifically addressed are the concepts of 'manhood' and 'womanhood'. I choose to address something that is more often ignored, the audience experience.

This film, like most 'horror' films, offers a roller coaster ride of suspense and emotions. This particular ride, though, is an exceptionally disturbing one. The audience is always wondering, "why?". There is no attempt to humanize the evil La Femme (Béatrice Dalle), not even the ending which attempts to give a motive paints her as anything more than a monster. The audience is left in a constant state of terror, as Sarah (Alysson Paradis) is fighting for her, and her baby's, lives.

Inside never lets up, and the audience is more or left fighting as hard as Sarah is to stay in the theatre. I viewed this film in a screening in our Film Studies seminar on European Cinema at UBC. As we sat there, horrified at the gruesome unfolding before us, we needed a point to collectively release our anxiety.

This point came in the kitchen seen just after La Femme calls Sarah's knitting needle bluff and bashes her in the head with the toaster. Just when La Femme is lighting up a cigarette, Sarah mysteriously finds an aerosol can of some flammable liquid with which to torch her foes face. Nearly everyone around me, myself included, burst into laughter at this moment.

This may be intentional on the part of the filmmakers, since an equally ridiculous scene occurs soon afterward. The police officer who had been shot in the head, stands up with zombie like dark spots for eyes, and proceeds to attack Sarah. Having already released our particular anxiety, we did not laugh at this, but it is certainly just as absurd as the home-made flame thrower.

A person can only watch so much painful material, before they check out emotionally. In this case, a film becomes a microcosmic case of emotional numbing. Adding these chances that allow for some laughter to serve as a defense mechanism for the audience without taking away from the action or plot, adds to the effectiveness of this film.

Haute tension/ High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003)

For most of the film, High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003) seems like an ultra-violent, painfully graphic, Hollywood Horror film, with a plot that is somewhat more interesting. The end of the film, though, changes the viewers perception of the film entirely. With an almost Shyamalanian ending, High Tension turns itself upside down in the last 15 minutes, with a truly shocking use of the infamous unreliable narrator (as suggested by the camera Marie is speaking to while in her cell in the institution), which may suggest the concept of a subjective reality, or simply justify an hour and a half of torturous violence.
One of the more underlying, yet fascinating, themes of this film is that of gender. As previously alluded, this is not quite the average genre flick. High Tension is a film that is very much aware of the conventions of the genre, and the expectations of the audience. This movie makes some drastic departures from the genre as far as gender is concerned but, aware of these conventions, does not do so immediately.
The big reveal at the end, that Marie is actually one and the same with the killer, is really what brings the questions of gender roles to the forefront. The genre does not, in general, make room for female killers. This is High Tension's way of having a deranged female killer work within a well defined construct. The expected situation is that a demented, disgusting man, will hunt down and attack the pretty girl, most notably citing Halloween (Carpenter, 1978). Perhaps because of her guilt, Marie is projecting herself onto a generic serial killer, who she, and we, feel is a more appropriate killer.
The guilt that drives her to insanity, or vice-versa, may not stem strictly from the murdering of Alex's entire family. Her sexuality is alluded to a few times throughout the film. The first notable instance is as she is smoking a cigarette outside on the swing, she watches Alex through her window. There is a clear homosexual tone to this film, which is highlighted by this scene. The other big sexual tie is the parallel between her masturbation, and the killer's. While certainly the nature of the later is far more disturbing, this could be how she thinks of herself in these actions, since he only exists in her world.

Catching up

I apologize to any readers for my utter lack of attention to this blog. I have been working on some more involved, research based writing for a while. Before that I went quite a while without posting though. I have decided (with Acacia's help) to list the films I have watched, but will not be blogging about, here in this post. Hopefully without the intimidating thought of being 15+ films behind I can get back on track. So, without further ado, the films I have viewed since (and before) my last post, with a "*" on films I think are interesting enough to recommend to you:

1) The Matrix (Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, 1999)*
2) Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore, 2002)*
3) Le Confessionnal (Robert Lepage, 1995)**
4) Match Point (Woody Allen, 2005)*
5) The Hours (Stephen Daldry, 2002)
6) Kurutta kajitsu (Kô Nakahira, 1956)
7) To Have and Have Not (Howard Hawks, 1944)*just because it's Hawks, Bogart, Bacall, and Hemingway
8) Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen - The Forest for the Trees (Maren Ade, 2003)
9) A Brief History of Time (Errol Morris, 1991)**
10) The Big One (Michael Moore, 1997)
11) Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (Alanis Obomsawin, 1993)
12) Alexandra's Project (Rolf de Heer, 2003)
13) The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, 2007)*
14) 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963)**
15) Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Steve Box, Nick Park,, 2005)*
16) Mourir à tue-tête - Scream From Silence (Anne Claire Poirier, 1979)
17) Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (Errol Morris, 1997)*

I also watched a number of films specifically for a few papers I have recently finished which I will be posting on this blog in the up-coming days:

"Documenting Documentary: Cinematic Response to Fahrenheit 9/11"
- Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore, 2004)*
- Manufacturing Dissent (Rick Caine and Debbie Melnyk, 2007)*
- Fahrenhype 9/11 (Alan Peterson, 2004) -interesting for intensely flawed right-wing rhetoric and the interviews with the always ridiculous Ann Coulter
- Celsius 41.11: The Temperature at Which the Brain Begins to Die (Kevin Knoblock, 2004) - so ridiculous I don't even think it's worth watching

"David Croneneberg Gone Hollywood?: Defining a Canadian National Cinema in a Global Culture"
The following are all directed by David Cronenberg:
- Shivers (1975)
- Rabid (1977)
- Scanners (1981)
- Videodrome (1983)*
- Naked Lunch (1991)**
- Crash (1996)
- eXistenZ (1999)*really interesting for its almost simultaneous release with The Matrix
- Eastern Promises (2007)

I know there have been more, but i can't remember what they were, so... If I remember them, and they were worth sharing, I'll post them in a future entry.

Twentynine Palms (Dumont, 2003)

Bruno Dumont's reductionist look at human nature, and the human condition in Twentynine Palms (2003) is rather bleak. This film, in terms of narrative and entertainment does not fit the bill of your average southern California film. Set east of Hollywood in the town of Twentynine Palms outside of Joshua Tree National Park which, for those geographically impaired, is a desert. Essentially nothing happens in this film until the last 15 minutes or so, the rest is spent within the painfully mundane interactions of two rather boring people, who happen to be in the middle of nowhere.

David and Katia spend most of the film having conversations that make our everyday interactions seem interesting. Their actions are just as useless as their words. They spend the entire film bickering, having what looks like painful sex, and driving around in their Hummer. The cinematography, with it's long, wide shots of the beautiful yet desolate California desert reinforces the idea that these people (or people in general) are living pointless lives in meaningless world, trapped in their claustrophobic vehicles and motel rooms.

The ending of the film changes some of this. When they are randomly attacked amidst the desolation, by the only other people they interact with in the film, it gives a real sense of what Dumont thinks of humans. If we did not get it from this, David subsequently murders his girlfriend and then supposedly takes his own life in the desert. The only people we see in this film are beastly evil, violent, and sex craved.