This was truly one of the most infuriating cinema experiences I've had in years. I don't know where to start.
This film was embarrassingly bad, not only due to the totally superfluous use of graphic sex, but mainly due to the writer/director's inability to create any sense of character depth (the closest it comes is in Henri, who I greatly sympathised with, but sadly the film eschews any sort of interesting development of his character in favour of the boring, bland, insipid and ridiculous Franck, who wades only in the shallowest of waters).
Just when you can't stand it any more and are waiting for the main character to die, the film ends. Now, this could be an attempt to create a Haneke/"Hidden" type effect, but it fails to do this, and seems more like the writer just couldn't be arsed to write an ending, which frankly I wouldn't be bothered to do myself, but this begs the question, why even bother to start? Not only does this film seek to isolate and alienate its audience (all but the seediest of gays will probably find the first twenty minutes uncomfortable, boring, vulgar and direction-less), but it does so, in my opinion, for absolutely no reason. There wasn't even any sense of the Von Trier mischief... it just literally has a couple of graphic shots spliced in meaninglessly, and I can only assume that this was done to draw in the salacious crowds, as the plot (or lack of) certainly wouldn't do that on its own.
I read somewhere (on the poster?) that it was reminiscent of Hitchcock... don't believe this. It is much more reminiscent of simply "cock", and can't even be bothered to "finish" itself "off" at the end.
Total rubbish.
Addendum: (credit where credit's due) beautiful photography of the water.
This film was embarrassingly bad, not only due to the totally superfluous use of graphic sex, but mainly due to the writer/director's inability to create any sense of character depth (the closest it comes is in Henri, who I greatly sympathised with, but sadly the film eschews any sort of interesting development of his character in favour of the boring, bland, insipid and ridiculous Franck, who wades only in the shallowest of waters).
Just when you can't stand it any more and are waiting for the main character to die, the film ends. Now, this could be an attempt to create a Haneke/"Hidden" type effect, but it fails to do this, and seems more like the writer just couldn't be arsed to write an ending, which frankly I wouldn't be bothered to do myself, but this begs the question, why even bother to start? Not only does this film seek to isolate and alienate its audience (all but the seediest of gays will probably find the first twenty minutes uncomfortable, boring, vulgar and direction-less), but it does so, in my opinion, for absolutely no reason. There wasn't even any sense of the Von Trier mischief... it just literally has a couple of graphic shots spliced in meaninglessly, and I can only assume that this was done to draw in the salacious crowds, as the plot (or lack of) certainly wouldn't do that on its own.
I read somewhere (on the poster?) that it was reminiscent of Hitchcock... don't believe this. It is much more reminiscent of simply "cock", and can't even be bothered to "finish" itself "off" at the end.
Total rubbish.
Addendum: (credit where credit's due) beautiful photography of the water.