Reviews

The media is in a strange place. We keep driving towards the portrayal of the ultimate acts on screen: sex and death. Given that we are living in bizarre, hypocritical times it is likely that we will see a real-time death on the screen before we see a more salutary act of love. Mel Gibson pushes the envelope in the direction of real time (sadomasochistic) death and has the yokels believing that what he shows on the screen is 'what really happened!' This is a sad commentary on the mentality of some of the audiences who have been flocking to this one-dimensional spectacle as well as a slap in the face to two millenia of biblical scholarship. The historical Jesus was a Jewish prophet who ran afoul of the establishment and was severely punished....end of (his) story but the beginning of life for a very nice allegory that has been a mainstay of Western culture since practically day one. However, there were hundreds if not thousands of scourgings and crucifixions during that period and since then millions of people have died horribly, often for the sake of others. In these times, people seem to be looking for a reason to feel self righteous and maybe even to hate. Gibson has given them a ladle full and if there is a God she probably isn't very happy with Mel. Self-indulgence and willful distortions of the truth were always a sin in 'my' Baltimore Catechism. Do yourself a favor....rent the Ten Commandments instead...or better yet...Mad Max.

I loved this film but the fact that it was about mountain climbing is irrelevant. The most interesting pieces were the decision by Simon to cut the rope on Joe and then the decision by Joe to climb down into the crevasse. Anyone who has been in a life and death situation with another person, where one can die and one can live, will immediately respond to Simon's dilemma. I say 'all hail' Joe for forgiving Simon and saying that he would have done the same thing. (In the absence of a prior understanding there's nary a human who wouldn't...but the movie was not a documentary so we really don't know what Simon's true situation was....was he too impatient ?(as the movie suggests)...did he really have no other alternatives? Only Simon knows...certainly not the critics who say the one should never cut the rope. Maybe if it's you wife or child you might say that but people who engage in such high risk behaviors had better be willing to suffer the consequences of their stupidity or bad luck and let their partners live.) As for Joe's 'descent' all I can say is bloody marvelous. Its a true illustration of Joe's own point that in a situation like that the most important thing is to "keep making decisions no matter what." It is also a great illustration of counter-intuitive thinking. Management gurus have been trying to teach that concept for decades...but it takes a real man to show them how its done. This film should be required viewing for University Ethics classes and management training. (Not to mention at Mountain climbing schools.)

One of the great things about the French is their interest and promotion of THEORY. Sometimes when theory infiltrates Art in too direct a manner the results can be boring or pretentious. In the case of demonlover neither is the case yet the end product doesn't measure up to its individual parts which are brilliant. Suffice it to say this is not a movie for the squeamish or for fans of the character building qualities of a life in business. What the film shows is how much of a construct modern identity is; how much it depends on role, on possessions, on our relationship to the pecking order of whatever tribe we find ourselves in. The film also suggests that the price we pay for hanging on to this fragile identity is nothing less than the seeds of our destruction - a doorway in fact to depression, madness and perversion. Lastly, the film is a devastating look at the way big media corporations hide their involvement in anti-social projects under the veneer of 'just business' or, if they went to the Harvard Business School, 'shareholder value'. Its a rare thing to make an interesting movie with NO sympathetic characters but demonlover achieves this. Many complaints have been launched against the incoherent plot, but the fact is that the plot is not incoherent at all, it just lacks credibility which is a different matter altogether. But no matter: its still an interesting take on a very real set of contemporary circumstances. The performances are also quite compelling which suggests that no matter how dubious a character's morality is, if she's beautiful we (men, that is) will hang on her every word.

Lets face it. Charlotte Rampling is one of the brightest and sexiest actresses on film today and it seems that since her decision to start working with a vengence several years ago she will tackle almost any project. Take Swimming Pool for example, which unfortunately she did perhaps as a favor (one can only hope)...while she worked well with this director in Under the Sand...here she is forced into a grotesque and thoroughly cliched parody of an English 'mystery' writer...think Agatha Christie, Miss Marple, AC Doyle...you name it. The authentic subdued passion which usually enlivens a Charlotte Rampling performance is here defused into a Freudo/Lacanian genre bending who cares who done it because all these people are thoroughly uninteresting and even a bit distasteful. What really enlivens this film are the lingering and repeated shots of Ludivine Sangnier's breasts as well as the sultry shot of a naked Charlotte which is spoiled by what happens next in the scene. Yuck! indeed. This is a director who seems a bit confused by how stories work and what makes a film interesting. The performances in this film are like the burnt crust of a creme brulee...unfortunately there is no custard underneath.