ANATOMY OF HELL (2004)

Truly worthy of the name the most controversial female director in contemporary France, Caterina Breillat’s tenth film is indeed shocking and bizarre. She herself credit the film as : "This is a full stop in my creation of similar films. , and the subject of sex and women's desires has come to an end." Breillat’s most famous work is [Romance X], in which the numerous number of close-ups of the genitals has already terrified the French critics who have ever been the most unrestrained in this area - though the audience are always attract by the most grotesque, the thrill was massively escalated in [Anatomy of Hell] to a degree extreme enough to shock the audience―and the lurid realism of the [irrevocable] rape scene pales in comparison. Those shots won’t be able to be describe by words. In addition to the extreme exposure of organs, there are many more shocking, rather than stunning, gruesome shot.

DRINKING PERIOD BLOOD

Breillat’s film explores more than just women's deep sexual consciousness, her primary purpose is to constitute a provocation, or dialogue, with men. Before the film was fully released in France, Breillat was ready to fight with the critics to the end. Unfortunately, the critics adopted the most effective and lethal strategy: ignore it. Breillat murderously waved the biggest banner of her feminist wars, but in the end did not get any chance to confront mainstream commentary. Could this be count as luck or misfortune? The question of the film is: Why are men inherently misogynistic, yet unable to overcome their desire for women? Or it is also true in reverse, that is, why men are naturally full of desire for women, but cannot overcome the disgust and contempt for women in their bones. Breillat has been working on the dilemma of women's internal and external difficulties, and in these complex relationships, men are always an insurmountable obstacle. She stubbornly believes that men don't really understand women, and they don't bother to understand, they despise women in their bones, and this contempt stems from fear and shame. So she made up the bizarre story of the woman who paid a man to learn "what a woman is."

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The heroine in the film is a very beautiful woman. At the beginning of the film, she cuts her wrists in the toilet of a gay bar. Saved by a handsome gay man , she invites the man to spend four nights with her. Spending four thrilling long nights together in a wooden house on a sea cliff, the man began his arduous exploration of the woman under the guidance of her. In the end, he completed a process from completely rejecting women to initial recognition and penetration of women's bodies, to understanding and sympathy for women, and then to a terrified self-recognition, triggering deep fear, and killing the woman in a trance. The whole process. This complex psychological process is choreographed to resemble some kind of secret religious ceremony. However, the effect Breillat wants to bring about is not the salvation and forgiveness pursued by religion. On the contrary, she wants men to "consciously" understand To the great paradox of themselves - since ancient times, men have always longed for the approval of women, and at the same time have extreme and collective contempt for women's dignity; men deny women when they cannot conquer them, and men also deny women after conquering them.

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As a movie, [Anatomy of Hell] is very unsuitable for public viewing, but as a proposition, [Anatomy of Hell] is worth watching. Breillat’s extreme expression methods may be unacceptable to most audiences. The film's naturalistic depiction of female organs is by no means different from [the realm of the senses]. She magnifies the "physiological" side of women, and through this magnification and refraction Some kind of absurdity. However, it is difficult to say that Breillat also showed her own identification and sympathy for women at the same time. She so nakedly dissects the evil of human nature, which is probably a kind of evil in itself.

The most fascinating thing about the whole film is the uneasy (unknown) atmosphere it creates. In addition to the confrontation between a man and a woman in the house, this atmosphere also has a suitable performance, that is, the roaring sea under the night. Several quite thrilling nighttime seascape shots in the film, regardless of lighting, recording or camera position, are first-class. The mystery, ferocity, horror and infinite vastness of the tides perfectly match the plot and set off the theme of the film.

Breillat’s film explores more than just women's deep sexual consciousness. Her primary purpose is her desire to constitute a provocation, or dialogue, with men.