Controversial French films

Beyond the French New Wave
A new wave of French filmmakers are shocking audiences with their extremely provocative works

French Cinema is like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. The good side of it is renowned for its original premises, which Hollywood remade countless times. The other side, however, is not for everyone to see because they're extremely provocative.

Many of these extremely provocative features can't be shown at the annual French Film Festival for the most obvious reasons, but those who managed to attend the CineManila International Film Festival and its extended period would be fortunate to see Sitcom and I Stand Alone/Seul Contre Tous, both of which were released in 1998.

Sitcom is Francois Ozon's debut feature, where he takes the concept of a dysfunctional family to a bizarre level. Its opening scene is shocking enough: a suburban family greets the man of the house on his birthday, and he shows his appreciation by killing all of them with a gun. What follows is a flashback that traces the cause of it: a laboratory rat that the father brought as the family's house pet. They found out too late that this tiny creature would turn their household upside down.

As the title suggests, viewers who enjoy black humor will dig this film, but watch keenly and you'll notice that Ozon made an anti-bourgeois satire - and that's just the tip of an iceberg. If unpleasantness can be outrageous in Sitcom, irredeemable is what makes I Stand Alone a standout.

A British film critic describes it as a disturbing, thought-provoking and frighteningly candid exploration of the French psyche. It's about a middle-aged butcher who bitterly narrates his unpleasant life and how he ends up loathing the world and himself. Director Gaspar Noe takes the moviegoers into a downward spiral ride all the way. There are many past films that tackle alienation, but not one of them (even Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver) dared to go far as Noe did in Alone.

Catherine Breillat made Romance X a few years ago. Like I Stand Alone, the lead character is mostly in monologue, but in her case, she is fed up of her boyfriend who doesn't empathize with her desires. Try to think of Carrie Bradshaw doing a drastic and wicked recourse after getting frustrated once more from her relationship with Mr. Big in able to get an idea about X.

The three films already mentioned may pale in comparison to Baise-moi. It's a collaboration between a porn actress and a lady novelist, and it's translated as Rape Me in English.

The film begins with Manu being gang-raped, while Nadine accidentally kills her best friend during a fight over a guy. Both are enraged from the incidents. A chance encounter (or is it fatal destiny?) leads both on a road trip filled with sexcapades and dead bodies.

Baise-moi is a nihilistic version of Thelma and Louise, where most of the guys are either insensitive or plain assholes, and the men that run into Manu and Nadine end up in bed or dead. Its running time is short (one hour and 20 minutes), but its impact is strong. Misandry (hating the male species) is the movie's main theme.

This is one of those films that will polarize moviegoers. It imparts a strong statement against a patriarchal society, but how many would take it seriously after learning that the co-director is Coralie, who made a name in X-rated features? It is acclaimed in film festivals in Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, but many trashed it as well (can you laud the performance of actors who look like stars in the porn industry?).

Not a few would wonder what motivated Virginie Despentes to write Baise-moi, which she also wrote the screenplay and co-direct. I wonder is she's like Manu, who thinks that the gun is the woman's only salvation in the jerk's world. Then again, the film may be a wild ride.

Baise-moi was shown at Titus Brandsma Center a few months ago, where there is a lengthy discussion about it afterwards. One female viewer lauded it as a feminist picture, while a male attendee gushed that it's his first time to see a porno film that has a good story. Not surprisingly, some were shocked and unimpressed, but whatever the reaction, the movie definitely elicited curiosity and interest.

Metro Manila seems to be experiencing another era of censorship, where these controversial films can be seen in UP Film Institute and Cultural Center of the Philippines. No need to discuss about our double-standard morality, but French Cinema assumes that its viewers are intelligent enough.

(First published in The Manila Times on July 14, 2003)