Cinematheque Ontario presents - Catherine Breillat

Cinematheque Ontario presents – Catherine Breillat

Novelist, filmmaker, maverick and feminist, Cathreine Breillat has crated quite a name for herself in Ontario after the province banned her sexually explicit ROMANCE.  For the fist time, Cinematheque Ontario presents an exhaustive list of her films including ROAMNCE, my favourite of hers, A MA SOUER (FAT GIRL) and her latest BARBE BLEU.  Her common theme in all her films is sex, whether performed, imagined or hidden. 

The protagonist in all her films is largely female even for BARBE BLEU which tells the story of Bluebeard from the point of view of the girl that last marries him.  A common character that appears in her films is the whore mother, in PARFAIT AMORE! to A MA SOUER to the know-it-all grandmother in the period piece, LA VIEILLE MAITRESSE.

Her films range from modern to the period piece.  To see her at her blackes and funniest, her latest BARBE BLUE is quite the treat.  A few like ANATOMY OF HELL is difficult to take for all its explicit graphic sex scenes.

Also in this program are three of her favourite films REALM OF THE SENSES, POLICE and LAST TANGO IN PARIS.

Be prepared to be shocked!

These are the complete list of Breillat films to be screened|

36 FILLETTE

ANATOMY OF HELL

BARBE BLEUE

BRÈVE TRAVERSÉE

FAT GIRL

IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES

LAST TANGO IN PARIS

PARFAIT AMOUR!

POLICE

ROMANCE

SALE COMME UN ANGE

SEX IS COMEDY

TAPAGE NOCTURNE

UNE VIEILLE MAÎTRESSE

UNE VRAIE JEUNE FILLE

For more information on ticket pricing, venue and showtimes, check the Cinematheque website at:-
http://www.cinemathequeontario.ca

The Cinematheque Ontario was kind enough to provide screenrs for a few of the Breaillat films.  Capsule reviews of these films are provided below:-

A MA SOEUE (FAT GIRL) (France/Italy 2000) *****
Direted by Catherine Breillat

Under age sex is becoming more commonplace and less shocking in today’s films. Writer/director Catherine Breillat (“Romance”, “36 Fillette”) realises this and uses the sexual act of 15 year old Elena (Roxane Mesquida) as a catalyst to something more intriguing - the awakening of the true nature and hidden desires and of her pudgy 12-year old younger sister Anais (Anais Reboux). Breillat often over uses shock tactics and violence to make a point. But she also displays a talent for harrowing scenes like the one in which Annais, pretending to be asleep, listens fully to her sister having sex in the same bedroom.  Besides drawing stellar performances from the three principals, Breillat deliberately weaves intriguing ambiguities into each character. Arsinee Khanjian (Atom Egoyan’s wife in her best role) plays the chain-smoking mother whose agitated coolness could either stand for distance or over-concern over her daughters’ actions. Even the French title (meaning “To My Sister”) might equally apply to either daughter.  The press notes indicate Breillat’s aim at creating a deeper profundity of her images. Whether she succeeds is arguable, but her images (particularly of the Mercedes zigzagging between speeding trucks on the highway) are nevertheless impressive and unforgettable. The result is an intelligent film that is as disturbing as it is compelling.
(Screening: Aug 25th, 7pm)

ANATOMIE DE L’ENFER (France 2003) ***
Directed by Catherine Breillat

ANATOMY OF HELL begins with the full frontal shot of an erect penis as a blow job takes place between two gay men. The scene then shifts to a disco where the story begins.  The plot concerns a gay protagonist (Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi) being offered a sum of money by a girl (Amira Casar) he had saved in that disco. The purpose is not made clear at the start but the man is to spend four nights observing her do the unwatchable. The story is never important in any Breillat film (SEX IS COMEDY, 36 FILLETTE) or the sex particularly arousing.  But ANATOMIE contains serious flaws. One is Breillat’s casting of a heterosexual to play a gay person. Any gay person can tell you that being gay means much more than sucking dick. Actor Siffredi does not pull it off. Most importantly, a gay man possesses qualities a straight person cannot imitate like mannerisms and looks.  Worse still, director Breillat does not attempt to have her character display gay characteristics. The probable reason Breillat has a homosexual protagonist is that a straight one would have bed the girl right away. The climatic last act involving the gay person performing sexual intercourse is believable then for the wrong reasons. What is surprising too is that a double was used for most of Casar’s nude scenes as Casar is seen nude quite a few times.  Nevertheless, Breillat always has her story to tell. Whether her film is entertaining or not - there are explicit sexual acts involving lipstick, a rake and a tampon - ANATOMY OF HELL is somehow fascinating to view as Breillat is a daring and inventive filmmaker. But not one of her better films.
(Screening: Aug 14th, 845 pm)

BARBE BLEU (France 2009) ****
Directed by Catherine Breillat

Breillat’s latest film is the blackest and funniest of her movies.  Shot in fairytale style of Kingdoms, ogres and princesses, BARBE BLEU or Bluebeard is a wealthy and ugly beast whose wives mysteriously disappear after a year of marriage.  The people believe that he murders them and he gets away with it as according to the words of Breillat’s script, justice is only for the poor.  So, two fatherless daughters, just kicked out of private school decide that one has to marry him or the family will die of poverty.  Breillat recurring themes of sibling rivalry (A MA SOUER), teenage sex (ROMANCE) and destructive mother take different forms in this tale.  The younger and more daring of the girls wed Bluebeard with disastrous results.  Watch for the Breillat’s ypical abrupt, shocking ending of BARBE BLEU.
(2 screenings on July 22 and July 29 at 7 pm both nights)

PARFAIT AMOUR! (France 1966) **
Directed by Catherine Breillat

Interesting perhaps to view as to see what constitutes PARFAIT AMOUR to director Breillat.  From the start, it appears that the love is more like AMOU FOU as the film starts with the renactment of a hideous crime involving the murder of Frederique, a woman of 37 (Isabelle Renaud) by her younger lover Chrstophe (Francis Renaud).  What follows is an extended flashback of the events leading to the murder.  The two lesser known actors are not as impressive as Breillat’s others in hr other films, which leads this film to have less impact.  In fact, if the film had not began with the sodomy and murder, the love affair would hardly arouse any interest.  Breillat offers a few musings, and just as in her other films, the male lead has less to say or make an impact than the female counterparts – despite the fact that this one is a murderer.  Trouble is that Isabelle Renaud fails to make an impression either. Ironically, the bombed out Dunkirk, which is the film’s setting, just reminds the audience of not only the couple’s doomed affair but the overall gloom of the whole movie.  Even the sex scenes in this film fails to titillate!
(Screening: Aug 5th, 9pm)

UNE VIEILLE MAITRESSE (France/Italy 2007) ****
Directed by Cathrine Breillat

Breillat not only surprises but astonishes in this well told period costume drama based on her favourite theme of sex and feminism.  From the film’s start, the women (older) are in control as one says: Love is thee but three is always conceit.” The plot concerns a very handsome and young Ryno de Marigny (Fu’ad Aït Aattou), before getting married to the young and innocent Hermangarde (Roxanne Mesquida), making a last visit to La Vellini (Asia Argento), his Spanish mistress, to bid goodbye in an act of lovemaking.  His liaison with La Vellini is the subject of the Parisian gossip, and before Hermangarde’s grandmother gives her blessing, she wants to hear from Ryno everything about this relationship.  Ryno reveals a tempestuous story but indicates that his ten year romance is over; he now is in love with Hermangarde.  Breillat provides lots of sensual love-making scenes.  The dialogue is really effective as well and the audience falls under the spell of the charming Ryno as he promises his love to Hemangarde.  But after the marriage, the newlyweds move away to a castle at the seashore.  They are happy and soon Hermangarde conceives. But the “last/old mistress” reappears, and while Ryno tries to keep her out of his life, she is not to be rejected, and Hermangarde finds out about it.  Great supporting cast with Michel Lonsdale and Cesar winner Yolande Moreau playing a gossiping count and countess.