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Exterminating Angels (The)
R1 - America - Genius Products Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (14th August 2007). |
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The Film
 Filmmaker Jean-Claude Brisseau was once fined 9,500 Euros for sexually harassing two actresses during the pre-production of his 2002 film "Choses secrètes", so who better than a alleged sexual deviant to make a film like "The Exterminating Angels" a film that draws a line between 'porn' and 'art' but more importantly seems like some sort of perverse way to communicate his innocence to the harassment charges laid on him. European filmmakers have long since captured sensuality onscreen in often naturalistic ways, and sometimes they venture into the more aggressive (Gaspar Noé's films are an example of this) but one truth is certain, Europeans are rather liberal when it comes to sex so Americans be warned, this film will rattle some cages. "The Exterminating Angels" tells the story of filmmaker François (Frédéric van den Driessche) who aims to make a film exploring female eroticism, during pre-production he put two women, Charlotte (Maroussia Dubreuil) and Julie (Lise Bellynck) to the test by filming them have sex, then a third joins, waitress Stephanie (Marie Allan) in and they develop a close sexual bond. So much so that they begin to enjoy the thrill of having sex in front of François who they grow to covet. The relationship becomes dangerous when François discovers that temptation, jealousy and lust puts his film in jeopardy. First of all, some may call me ignorant but I have no idea what the meaning of the angles are in this film? The symbolism slipped by me. They watch over the filmmaker and occasionally influence situations, other than that it's a mystery. Perhaps it's a statement about those that watch over us may also have the power to mess with us? Furthermore this film is an incredibly male-centred fantasy piece that pushes the envelope. It's a total "I wish" movie, how many guys out there have wanted to see a bunch of hot ladies get it on? Be honest now...It seemed like Brisseau was playing out his fantasy by proxy through the character François or to a certain extent using the character as a means to justify what he asks women to do for his films. Some may call it sophisticated art while others porn but the bottom line is that the film does features some erotic scenes, many of which are border-line porn. Nothing to the extremes as seen in the tastefully bad "Baise-moi" (2000) hardcore porn masquerading as art-house cult cinema, this film is at least tasteful in it's depictions of lesbian interactions, well as tasteful as they can be anyway. I also found the film to be incredibly slow to an artful degree, if it wasn't for the occasional bouts of sex that broke up the mundane and occasionally pretentious dialogue this would have been a totally mind-numbing experience. I even felt that the performances by the young female cast members to be totally void of any emotion even when engaging in sex it was like watching robots programmed to perform a specific function, this film is supposed to be about exploring female eroticism (at least that's what the character of François was going for) yet I felt that these girls didn't connect with one another. What I did like was the film's noir tone and visual style is rather impressive and the film's themes become somewhat clearer when looked at in this light, the manipulative undertones surface and the complexity of this film's core is revealed, however at the end of the day "The Exterminating Angels" is too art house for the art house crowd and not explicit enough for the porno crowd...it lays in a strange middle ground.
Video
Presented in the film's original 1.33:1 full screen ratio this transfer presents the film clearly and with lush and vivid colors. The image is sharp and nicely detailed; blacks are deep and bold, as there are many dark and dimly lit scenes they hold up well as does shadow detail. As mentioned before colors are nicely balanced and hold up well, skin tones are natural. I could not spot any major flaws with this transfer, grain was hardly visible, no compression artefacts to speak of and edge-enhancement was nowhere to be found.
Audio
A single French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track is included, although the case features the DTS logo a DTS track is not included on this release. As far as Dolby track go this is a fine example. The film is primarily dialogue based and as expected the dialogue is clear and distortion free, the track features minor ambient noise but it mainly remains front heavy, with the score adding the necessary depth. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired and Spanish.
Extras
The primary extra on this disc is "Cinema According to Brisseau" an interview with director Jean-Claude Brisseau and editor/production designer/costume designer María Luisa García which runs for 42 minutes 23 seconds. In this clip the director comments on writing the script and the different versions that existed over the years as well as the evolution into what it became. He also comments on the refining of the voice-over text, directing the film and staging the scenes, as well as his working style and the use of surrealist elements for the film, creative choices made, on working with the actors, shooting the restaurant masturbation scene as well as the other erotic sex scenes and the use of music. Generally Brisseau takes over the interviews with García only occasionally putting in her input. Next up is a single deleted scene that includes an introduction by the film's director and runs for 6 minutes 13 seconds. While at a café François bumps into Rebecca (Raphaële Godin) they catch up and talks about the film he put her in when she was just 16. Also included on this disc is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 1 minute 56 seconds. Rounding out the extras are some bonus trailers for: - "Private Fears in Public Places" which runs for 1 minute 55 seconds. - "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" which runs for 2 minutes 15 seconds. - "Grande école" which runs for 1 minute 45 seconds.
Overall
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