Hot Mess Celluloid- Elle (2016)

Michele Leblanc had a great day until she saw her cat outside.  She opened the door to get it and got raped.  However, no phone call was made to the police station and a warm bath eased the discomfort.  She was back to work at her video game company without missing a step.  Yet, the thoughts raced through her mind about the attacker.

Meanwhile, she was dealing with Irene, her aging mother, and Ralf, the gigolo.  Irene was informing her of Michele’s father being parole eligible.  Again, she didn’t care.  Now, Vincent, her son, was coming to ask for rent and inform her of his pregnant girlfriend.

All she wanted was resolution and sex?  How could she think about sex after such a violent attack?  The answer was Patrick.  He was married, young, and great looking. It fit what she needed.  Hell, one of out of three’s not bad but three out of three?  She might have to pursue him.

Would Elle find her attacker?  Would Vincent be responsible and take care of his expectant girlfriend?  Would her father be paroled?  Who In The Hell Thinks About Sex After Being Raped?!

Elle was masterfully directed by Paul Verhoeven.  He excelled with this erotic thriller based on Phillippe Dijan’s novel.  The film was erotic, disturbing, and wrought with dark humor.  Isabelle Huppert found darkness and light in a character that eclipsed Sharon Stone’s Catherine Tramell.  Elle makes her look timid in comparison.  She shown the feminine mystique a new glance while viewers questioned her intentions.

American viewers may or may not realize that Verhoeven as more than an action director.  Yet, the erotic thriller and suspense were his bread and butter years before Robocop and Total Recall.  This was foreign celluloid since Black Book.  The film was beautifully accented by Anne Dudley’s score.  She composed the film in such a way that Jerry Goldsmith would’ve been proud.

Huppert has been nominated for a 2017 Best Actress Oscar for this role.  It was well deserved for a layered performance.

Viewers will be left guessing until the final moments.  Then, they will question certain events that proceeded the present as well.

Verhoeven has given his fan base what they wanted:  An erotic thriller with more turns than a mountain road.

Catherine Tramell had a great run while it lasted.  Looks like you’ll be charged with smoking and be appointed into the custody of Elle.

 

News about new happenings for the blog in 2016

For those reading the posts and commenting on the blog, thanks for the continued support. January 2016 will still have the continuing Trilogy posts and start a new trend, a theme for each month.

January’s theme will be Resolve/Resolutions. You assume that it will be all rainbows and unicorns. However, you’d be mistaken in that assumption. They will be balanced between good resolve and good/bad resolutions. I will have a preview post with the upcoming Schlinder’s List celluloid.

In regards of Trilogy celluloid, the January selections will most likely be Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Trois Coleurs: Bleu, Blanc, Rouge. Also, David O’Russell’s Loose Trilogy will be featured. His films in that series are as follows: The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, & American Hustle.

These are some of the following films that I’m considering for January:  Sleeping with Other People, Leaving Las Vegas, Showgirls, Sideways, and Taxi Driver. Feel free to leave other suggestions as well.

However if they fit in or don’t, February’s theme will be Love. The trilogy for that month will be Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy:  Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, & Before Midnight.

Hope everyone continues to read and enjoy the posts. For those new to the blog post, I decided to call them celluloid instead of reviews.

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, & Happy New Year!

Trilogies will be in the spotlight soon on the blog.

I will be featuring trilogies (not in any order) including Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy (Sunrise, Sunset, and Midnight),  Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Trois Couleurs (Bleu, Blanc, Rouge), Star Wars Episodes IV,V, &VI.

However, I may/may not include The Hobbit and Star Wars: Episodes I, II, & III.

The reasoning behind this is simple and is as follows:

The Hobbit is a prequel (in just a single volume) only around 300 pages.  However, The Lord of The Rings Trilogy is divided into The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

The Star Wars Prequels are highly divisive; fans either like, love, or hate them.

If there are any suggestions of other trilogies to include, feel free to leave a comment.  This will be on going and hopefully won’t interrupt the flow of Man Crush Monday, Woman Crush Wednesday, Throwback Thursday, and Flashback/forward Friday.

Thank you very much for the continued support and positive feedback on the blog.

MCM Role Reversal Celluloid- Antonio Banderas in The Skin I Live In (2011)

Remember hearing about doctors that do revolutionary surgery.  He is one and even more.

Le Piel Que Habito or The Skin That I Live In revolves around Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas), a gifted, plastic surgeon.  His work is renowned along with the humanitarian work that he performs.  However, he’s revolutionized a process called transgenesis transferring pig cells to human cells.  It is nicknamed Gal after his late wife who was tragically burned.  He lives in a beautiful mansion with a maid named Marilia (Marisa Paredes) and an alluring woman named Vera Cruz (Elena Anaya).  The alluring woman is being held captive as an amoral test subject for transgenesis.

Everything seems okay until one day a man named Zeca shows up.  He is the son of Marilia and is in need of refuge because of a jewelry heist.  Also, Zeca is seeking to have his face reconstructed to avoid prosecution and escape.  He decides to hold the maid hostage but is obsessed by the beautiful Vera on the television monitors.  Then, he begins to proceed through the house in search of her.  When she’s found, he begins to sexually assault her.  The maid is unable to stop him until Dr. Ledgard returns home.  Ledgard goes into the room and kills Zeca much to the dismay of Marilia, who wanted them both killed.

Dr. Ledgard’s life wasn’t always this complicated.  It was once simpler than it is now.  He once had a loving wife named Gal and a daughter named Norma (Blanca Suarez).  However, nothing is as it seems here. Who is Vera really?  What happened to Norma?

The Skin I Live In is a thrilling departure for Pedro Almodovar.  The film is a based on the novel Tarantula by Thierry Jonquet.  Pedro’s films are usually lighter fare but Agustin Almodovar collaborated on this darker script.  His lighter films include Bad Education, Volver, and Talk to Her.  He has earned two Oscars, one for All About My Mother (1999 Oscar for Best Foreign Film) and the other for Talk to Her (2002 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay).  He knows how to take a decade or more long tela novela and make it into an enjoyable film.  Oh, he’s openly gay and his characters have neurotic tendencies similar to Woody Allen’s scripts.

Skin crawls creepily in thanks to Antonio Banderas.  Banderas steps out of his usual romantic persona and shines in this atypical thriller.  His breakthrough Spanish role was in Almodovar’s Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down as a mentally challenged man holding a woman hostage.  However, American audiences met him in this film and his first English language film, The Mambo Kings.  He didn’t breakout in American cinema until his role in Desperado as El Mariachi.  Then, he drew bigger acclaim as Che in Evita and Zorro in The Mask of Zorro.  His largest claim to fame is as Puss in Boots in the Shrek films.  However, he has found time to appear on Broadway in Nine (2003) as Guido Contini and Zorba (2012) as the title character.

Fans should yearn to see more villainous roles from Banderas in the future.