Reader recommendation by Careina Marcos
DIRECTED BY: Gaspar Noé
FEATURING: Aomi Muyock, Karl Glusman, Klara Kristin
PLOT: A couple from Paris who are intensively driven in sexual and emotional desire which leads them into inviting a pretty girl next door in fulfilling their fantasy.
WHY IT SHOULD MAKE THE LIST: DUDE, IT’S DIRECTED BY GASPAR NOÉ. You’ll know it if you’ve seen Enter the Void.
COMMENTS: The movie starts with a narration of an American man. At first, I thought it was a sequel to Enter The Void. I thought that the man behind the voice was the reincarnation of Oscar. You’ll also see The Love Hotel in Murphy’s room, which would probably make you think the same. Murphy, the man behind the voice, is madly in love with this French girl, Electra. They believe that they are the best couple ever. Then the fear of every couple comes: cheating. One night, after making love while smoking a joint, Murphy asks Electra about her fantasy. His fantasy, as any man’s, it is to have sex with another woman. Electra agrees with Murphy’s taste in fantasy, which is a blonde girl. One day, they see this blonde chick who just moved in around their building. The couple invite her to eat and one thing led to another. They find themselves doing each other. Electra is very gentle and passionate about her. As time passes, when Electra has to leave town, Murphy itches to touch the young chick once again, until he gets her pregnant. The struggle of this couple to get back on track is the most destructive thing ever. He supports the kid and the blond chick. They live in his apartment. Murphy’s guilt eats him inside, leaving him to take opium that Electra gives him, as it makes him feel like he’s with Electra once again. This movie is filled with drugs, sex, and regrets.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:
I disagree. Although I did enjoy the movie (much more than most people seem to), I think that it’s both the least weird and – much more unfortunately – the weakest effort of Noé, and it was a little bit of a disappointment to me, especially since he makes so few movies. In my opinion Noé has made only one truly weird film, which is Enter the Void; Irréversible and Seul contre tous are also extremely strong works, and although they have some weird elements too, maybe ‘disturbing’ is a much more fitting word to describe them (but that’s for the staff of this site to decide.) Also, I don’t really understand the reason given by the reviewer; obviously, the fact that a director has made a weird movie, doesn’t make his subsequent movies weird. Anyways, I find Love an interesting film which is personal in a beautiful way, I just don’t find it weird enough. The 3D effects add some bizarre feeling to it, but it’s still not among the weirdest/best weird movies found on this list.