This movie was absolutely abysmal. I gave it one star because of the production value, lighting, and set design, which all contributed to making a decent atmosphere, but the writing wastes it so utterly that I can't possibly give it any higher. The male characters are only vague gestures in the direction of personality; the main character, Antoine, is so flimsy and inconsistent that he barely functions as a protagonist, and his friend and co-star Étienne is somewhat better, but only barely, and that partly by virtue of having fewer lines. The ostensible villain, Jordan, barely appears in the film, and his motives are extraordinarily weak. He could have not shown up in the movie at all and done exactly as much for the film, if not more. And this is all without even starting on how abysmally the women are written. It isn't uncommon to come across some form of risqué media by men, for men, about women, and to realize immediately that the writer or creator has probably never properly conversed with a woman in his life, but this movie takes it to the next level. The most prominent female character in the movie, Violane, doesn't speak remotely like any real person, and not in a way that makes her seem unsettling or unhinged, just in a way that screams, 'this script should have been set on fire.' At some point she talks about not liking being fully shirtless because her breasts 'move around,' as if the writer thinks breasts are sentient creatures that move on their own. Following this is a sex scene, and there's what is clearly meant to be scary music as the camera does a slow zoom in on her cleavage. I didn't know what to do but laugh. The whole spectacle would be hilarious if I didn't feel so bad for the actress who was put up to this nonsense. The other female characters were, in totum: a vindictive ex-lover; a woman with no speaking lines whose only role is to sit in bondage gear, wearing a ball gag, next to a man who has her literally on a leash as he conducts a conversation with Antoine (she's scarcely acknowledged. Perhaps it was an attempt at a joke, but, if so, it fell utterly flat); a woman who appears in a single scene to sneak into a party with Antoine and does nothing; and a woman who is exaggeratedly confused and foolish in an uncomfortably childish manner who is shot dead after one scene. The other women on screen are set pieces for Antoine to flirt with or Étienne's would-be porn actresses. Quite literally all of them. This is a shoddy attempt at horror, constructed around blatant and vicious misogyny, with flat characters, poor writing, and only the barest outline of a plot from which many key scenes seem to be missing entirely. Those responsible for lighting and set design tried to make a silk purse from a sow's ear and sadly failed. Don't watch this movie.
Review of Love Bites
