With a poll coming up on IMDbs Classic Film Board for the best movies of 2004,I decided to have a look on Ebay for DVDs of titles from that year,and I stumbled across a fascinating-looking French flick,which led to me getting ready to meet this rather strange sounding mother.
The plot:
Since having barely spent any time together since she and her husband separated, Hélène and her son Pierre find themselves struggling to find much in common.Wanting to introduce Pierre to her party life style, Hélène decides to organise a holiday for them to go on.
Just before they set off,tragic news reaches them that Pierre's dad/ Hélène ex-husband has suddenly died.Badly hit by the news,Pierre closes himself off from life,and from his mothers plans.Feeling that her son needs to let himself go, Hélène decides to do the thing that any parent would do in this situation,arrange for her "friends with benefits" to take his virginity,and to introduce Pierre to the vicious world of S&M.
View on the film:
Keeping the film placed at Pierre's point of view,writer/director Christophe Honoré superbly uses,long,stilted grainy close-ups to show the increasing (uncomfortable) level of intimacy that mum & son have for each other.Along with the good use of close-ups, Honoré films the explicit sex scenes in a blunt,to the point manner,with the lack of any music score, (apart from the jet-black Comedy ending) allowing for ever grunt and whip-slashing to be heard & felt.
Adapting Georges Bataille's unfinished novel,the screenplay by Christophe Honoré takes advantage in the first half of the film's close-ups by showing a sense of warped intimacy grow between Hélène & Pierre,with Pierre becoming very,very interested in being as intimate with his mum as possible! For the second half of the title, Honoré keeps the mum & son largely apart,and whilst this does allow for Pierre's unpleasant sexual urges to be fully shown,it leads to the movie being unsure over what direction to go in,due to the relationship between Pierre & Hélène being moved from the centre.
Leaving nothing to the imagination, Louis Garrel gives a raw performance as Pierre,with Garrel's sweet,innocent face being able to keep some level of support towards Pierre,even when his sexual desires (which Garrel perfectly performers with a real openness) become increasingly damaged. Looking rather alluring, Isabelle Huppert gives an excellent performance as Hélène.Giving Hélène a dominating swagger which allows her to dominate over any sexual partner, Huppert shows a tremendous coldness towards Pierre,which acts as a real friction to Hélène & Pierre incest desires,as Pierre finds everything out about his mother.
The plot:
Since having barely spent any time together since she and her husband separated, Hélène and her son Pierre find themselves struggling to find much in common.Wanting to introduce Pierre to her party life style, Hélène decides to organise a holiday for them to go on.
Just before they set off,tragic news reaches them that Pierre's dad/ Hélène ex-husband has suddenly died.Badly hit by the news,Pierre closes himself off from life,and from his mothers plans.Feeling that her son needs to let himself go, Hélène decides to do the thing that any parent would do in this situation,arrange for her "friends with benefits" to take his virginity,and to introduce Pierre to the vicious world of S&M.
View on the film:
Keeping the film placed at Pierre's point of view,writer/director Christophe Honoré superbly uses,long,stilted grainy close-ups to show the increasing (uncomfortable) level of intimacy that mum & son have for each other.Along with the good use of close-ups, Honoré films the explicit sex scenes in a blunt,to the point manner,with the lack of any music score, (apart from the jet-black Comedy ending) allowing for ever grunt and whip-slashing to be heard & felt.
Adapting Georges Bataille's unfinished novel,the screenplay by Christophe Honoré takes advantage in the first half of the film's close-ups by showing a sense of warped intimacy grow between Hélène & Pierre,with Pierre becoming very,very interested in being as intimate with his mum as possible! For the second half of the title, Honoré keeps the mum & son largely apart,and whilst this does allow for Pierre's unpleasant sexual urges to be fully shown,it leads to the movie being unsure over what direction to go in,due to the relationship between Pierre & Hélène being moved from the centre.
Leaving nothing to the imagination, Louis Garrel gives a raw performance as Pierre,with Garrel's sweet,innocent face being able to keep some level of support towards Pierre,even when his sexual desires (which Garrel perfectly performers with a real openness) become increasingly damaged. Looking rather alluring, Isabelle Huppert gives an excellent performance as Hélène.Giving Hélène a dominating swagger which allows her to dominate over any sexual partner, Huppert shows a tremendous coldness towards Pierre,which acts as a real friction to Hélène & Pierre incest desires,as Pierre finds everything out about his mother.