"Chaos" is a modern melodrama with a feminist edge. As with old-fashioned melodramas, each character is either highly sympathetic or highly disagreeableand here, the two groups of characters are divided strictly along gender lines.
On one side, there's Helene (Catherine Frot), a bourgeois empty-nester whose great capacity for love and devotion is stifled by her authoritarian husband and lazy son. And Malika/ Noemie (Rachida Brakni), a beautiful, extremely intelligent prostitute of Algerian descent. She has a heart of gold for her fellow women, and a heart of ice for the men who abused and enslaved her. The movie eventually becomes a lively, often funny tale of how Malika gets her revenge, aided by Helene.
But all of the men in the movieHelene's husband and son, Malika's father, the older men who fall for Malika's tricksare cruel, foolish, and patriarchal, and just as unlikable as Malika's pimps. This black-and-white worldview, as well as the frequent melodramatic contrivances (e.g., Malika recovers too conveniently from life-threatening injuries), ultimately undermines the movie. "Chaos" wants to be a feel-good, pro-women film, but its mean- spirited attitude toward men leaves a nasty aftertaste. Yes, the heroines triumph in the end but they do this only by separating themselves from men. Thus, the film seems to say that men can never change, that heterosexual romance cannot exist, and that although women are powerful, they are not powerful enough to reform their men. It's a bleak conclusion.
However, on the surface, the fast-paced "Chaos" is the opposite of a bleak movie. It rapidly shifts between social drama and black comedy, so much so that I wished for a little more time to stop and breathe. The story is exciting, even if based on mean-spirited attitudes (not only does the movie ridicule men, it also has a low opinion of young people, as shown by the scenes with Helene's son and his girlfriends).
As a feminist, I wish that I liked "Chaos" better, but I was turned off by its overstuffed structure and cheap-looking digital video cinematography, as well as its extreme antipathy towards men. There has to be some way of making a feminist film without demonizing the other half of the human race.
On one side, there's Helene (Catherine Frot), a bourgeois empty-nester whose great capacity for love and devotion is stifled by her authoritarian husband and lazy son. And Malika/ Noemie (Rachida Brakni), a beautiful, extremely intelligent prostitute of Algerian descent. She has a heart of gold for her fellow women, and a heart of ice for the men who abused and enslaved her. The movie eventually becomes a lively, often funny tale of how Malika gets her revenge, aided by Helene.
But all of the men in the movieHelene's husband and son, Malika's father, the older men who fall for Malika's tricksare cruel, foolish, and patriarchal, and just as unlikable as Malika's pimps. This black-and-white worldview, as well as the frequent melodramatic contrivances (e.g., Malika recovers too conveniently from life-threatening injuries), ultimately undermines the movie. "Chaos" wants to be a feel-good, pro-women film, but its mean- spirited attitude toward men leaves a nasty aftertaste. Yes, the heroines triumph in the end but they do this only by separating themselves from men. Thus, the film seems to say that men can never change, that heterosexual romance cannot exist, and that although women are powerful, they are not powerful enough to reform their men. It's a bleak conclusion.
However, on the surface, the fast-paced "Chaos" is the opposite of a bleak movie. It rapidly shifts between social drama and black comedy, so much so that I wished for a little more time to stop and breathe. The story is exciting, even if based on mean-spirited attitudes (not only does the movie ridicule men, it also has a low opinion of young people, as shown by the scenes with Helene's son and his girlfriends).
As a feminist, I wish that I liked "Chaos" better, but I was turned off by its overstuffed structure and cheap-looking digital video cinematography, as well as its extreme antipathy towards men. There has to be some way of making a feminist film without demonizing the other half of the human race.