Modern Classics
Merci Pour Le Chocolat/'R X-Mas/ Seduction- The Cruel Woman
First appeared in www.filmsinreview.com
Merci Pour Le Chocolat/'R X-Mas/ Seduction- The Cruel Woman
First appeared in www.filmsinreview.com
'R XMAS
2001
‘R XMAS, opens with a glamourous, upscale Manhattan couple attending their young
daughter's Christmas pageant at her expensive private school. You'll think: " I've seen
this sort of thing before, Betcha we're looking at the victims in this movie." Guess again.
This is the latest film by Abel Ferrara, an independent New York film-maker who, since
his first films, has been violently shaking the crime genre upside-down. His films, which
include MS. 45 (1981), CAT CHASER (1989), KING OF NEW YORK (1990), BAD
LIEUTENANT (1993), and NEW ROSE HOTEL (1998), are not industry-friendly cookie-
cutter trend-followers. They are a much different, tastier batch of cookies.
The un-named couple (SOPRANOS troubled Lillo Brancato and SOPRANOS regular
Drea de Matteo) are loving parents who, by day, go Christmas shopping for their
beloved little girl, Lisa (Lisa Valens). At night, they don street clothes and head for the
unfriendly reaches of the Bronx to deal in heroine with dangerous co-workers and drug
rivals. The wife learns from a kidnapper (Ice-T) that her husband has been taken. The
ransom is due within an almost impossible time limit. ‘R XMAS is free of the drug-movie
cliches. Gunplay is at a bare minimum (the only bullet recipient in 'R XMAS is a
basketball!) There are no car chases (When the wife drives across town for ransom
money, she isn't running red lights and knocking over fruit stands, like every rescuer in
most other genre film) ‘R XMAS is filled with insight, a peek into the inner workings of
drug neighborhoods highlighted with wall graffiti..
"Much of the graffiti are memorials, showing recent local killings," stated Frank DeCurtis,
‘R XMAS's Production Designer and Producer. "The graffiti suggests: let's keep dealing
drugs, but lets stop killing each other." Many of ‘R XMAS's tense decisive moments take
place near graffiti filled walls. "The graffiti artists I recruited to execute the 'los ninos’ wall
mural in the film I had met at the annual paint/spray-out at the Graffiti Hall of Fame."
recalled DeCurtis. "I originally met Marcus Mazda, who I thought should take the lead on
the project. I knew more than one artist would be involved. One to outline, one to paint,
one to do lettering as I wanted very specific elements which would be true to this type of
mural. So Marcus and I looked at a few other artists he brought to me and we decided
he would do it with Ewok, a New York graffiti artist." A key visual figure in ‘R XMAS is, of
all things, a "Party Girl Doll", the hot new toy Lisa wants more than anything. The Party
Doll Girl, true to her name, is dressed in black velvet. "The flip of a Barbie Doll" says
DeCurtis, who partially based the doll on an actress friend of his and Abel Ferrara’s.
The doll is a wonderful metaphor for such a visual film, a film where something that
appears sweet and clean can have dark secrets. (In a recent interview, Ferrara noted
he learned film-making doing silent 8mm film. He had to convey his early films visually,
with no dialog. Ferrara's films have always been visually powered.)
‘R XMAS received rather limited American distribution, which seems unfair. It's a film
filled with welcome surprises, keeping the audience glued to the screen.
2001
‘R XMAS, opens with a glamourous, upscale Manhattan couple attending their young
daughter's Christmas pageant at her expensive private school. You'll think: " I've seen
this sort of thing before, Betcha we're looking at the victims in this movie." Guess again.
This is the latest film by Abel Ferrara, an independent New York film-maker who, since
his first films, has been violently shaking the crime genre upside-down. His films, which
include MS. 45 (1981), CAT CHASER (1989), KING OF NEW YORK (1990), BAD
LIEUTENANT (1993), and NEW ROSE HOTEL (1998), are not industry-friendly cookie-
cutter trend-followers. They are a much different, tastier batch of cookies.
The un-named couple (SOPRANOS troubled Lillo Brancato and SOPRANOS regular
Drea de Matteo) are loving parents who, by day, go Christmas shopping for their
beloved little girl, Lisa (Lisa Valens). At night, they don street clothes and head for the
unfriendly reaches of the Bronx to deal in heroine with dangerous co-workers and drug
rivals. The wife learns from a kidnapper (Ice-T) that her husband has been taken. The
ransom is due within an almost impossible time limit. ‘R XMAS is free of the drug-movie
cliches. Gunplay is at a bare minimum (the only bullet recipient in 'R XMAS is a
basketball!) There are no car chases (When the wife drives across town for ransom
money, she isn't running red lights and knocking over fruit stands, like every rescuer in
most other genre film) ‘R XMAS is filled with insight, a peek into the inner workings of
drug neighborhoods highlighted with wall graffiti..
"Much of the graffiti are memorials, showing recent local killings," stated Frank DeCurtis,
‘R XMAS's Production Designer and Producer. "The graffiti suggests: let's keep dealing
drugs, but lets stop killing each other." Many of ‘R XMAS's tense decisive moments take
place near graffiti filled walls. "The graffiti artists I recruited to execute the 'los ninos’ wall
mural in the film I had met at the annual paint/spray-out at the Graffiti Hall of Fame."
recalled DeCurtis. "I originally met Marcus Mazda, who I thought should take the lead on
the project. I knew more than one artist would be involved. One to outline, one to paint,
one to do lettering as I wanted very specific elements which would be true to this type of
mural. So Marcus and I looked at a few other artists he brought to me and we decided
he would do it with Ewok, a New York graffiti artist." A key visual figure in ‘R XMAS is, of
all things, a "Party Girl Doll", the hot new toy Lisa wants more than anything. The Party
Doll Girl, true to her name, is dressed in black velvet. "The flip of a Barbie Doll" says
DeCurtis, who partially based the doll on an actress friend of his and Abel Ferrara’s.
The doll is a wonderful metaphor for such a visual film, a film where something that
appears sweet and clean can have dark secrets. (In a recent interview, Ferrara noted
he learned film-making doing silent 8mm film. He had to convey his early films visually,
with no dialog. Ferrara's films have always been visually powered.)
‘R XMAS received rather limited American distribution, which seems unfair. It's a film
filled with welcome surprises, keeping the audience glued to the screen.
MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT
2000
Sometimes a comedic story idea could make for an emotionally engrossing thriller
instead. Such is the case with MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT, one of the latest films
by France's longtime master of psychological thrillers - Claude Chabrol. Chabrol
turns what would be a situation comedy plot into a compelling thriller about failed
relationships. Respected pianist Andre Polonski (Jacques Dutronc) deduces that a
maternity ward mishap caused him and his wife, Marie (Isabelle Huppert), a
chocolate manufacturer, to raise the wrong child.
Their college age ‘son’, Guillaume, actually belongs to somebody else. Andre's real
child seems to be Jeanne, (Anna Maoglalis) a lovely piano student. Jeanne and her
boyfriend, a medical lab intern, are trying to figure out what poison will do some
undetected dirty work (Chabrol originally studied to be a pharmacist). Chabrol
started his career in the 1950's co-authoring well respected essays on Alfred
Hitchcock with fellow countryman and future director Eric Rohmer. Unlike DePalma
with his very obvious "Hey look, what Hitchcock film is my scene copied from?"
Chabrol wisely keeps his Hitchcock references to a minimum with subtly-styled
camera movements. Instead of celebrating ‘technical innovation’, Chabrol uses his
camera to keep us gazing at the film's characters. He keeps you wondering. Why
does Andre, the teacher and Jeanne, the pupil, glance at each other so much as
they practice the piano? Was what happened to Guillaume as a child really an
accident? Is anything going to happen between Jeanne and Guillaume? Is
somebody marked for death by poisoned chocolate? I would be consigned to film
reviewer Hell if I gave away MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT's tricky ending. (I will say
that Chabrol's closing shot for his film is a direct take on the closing moments of one
of my favorite Hitchcock films - ROPE.)
Although Isabelle Huppert is the film's most famous cast member, the acting kudos
go to young Anna Maoglalis. We don't know the full story behind her character,
Jeanne. This unpredictability prompts us to watch.
Chabrol started his career with self-funded thrillers like LES BONNES FEMMES
(1960) and BLUEBEARD (1962). His filmography pulls in a full range, from James
Bond styled fare like THE TIGER LIKES FRESH BLOOD (1964) to the award winning
domestic thriller VIOLETTE (1979, also starring Isabelle Hubbert). MERCI POUR LE
CHOCOLAT is Chabrol's 48th film.
2000
Sometimes a comedic story idea could make for an emotionally engrossing thriller
instead. Such is the case with MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT, one of the latest films
by France's longtime master of psychological thrillers - Claude Chabrol. Chabrol
turns what would be a situation comedy plot into a compelling thriller about failed
relationships. Respected pianist Andre Polonski (Jacques Dutronc) deduces that a
maternity ward mishap caused him and his wife, Marie (Isabelle Huppert), a
chocolate manufacturer, to raise the wrong child.
Their college age ‘son’, Guillaume, actually belongs to somebody else. Andre's real
child seems to be Jeanne, (Anna Maoglalis) a lovely piano student. Jeanne and her
boyfriend, a medical lab intern, are trying to figure out what poison will do some
undetected dirty work (Chabrol originally studied to be a pharmacist). Chabrol
started his career in the 1950's co-authoring well respected essays on Alfred
Hitchcock with fellow countryman and future director Eric Rohmer. Unlike DePalma
with his very obvious "Hey look, what Hitchcock film is my scene copied from?"
Chabrol wisely keeps his Hitchcock references to a minimum with subtly-styled
camera movements. Instead of celebrating ‘technical innovation’, Chabrol uses his
camera to keep us gazing at the film's characters. He keeps you wondering. Why
does Andre, the teacher and Jeanne, the pupil, glance at each other so much as
they practice the piano? Was what happened to Guillaume as a child really an
accident? Is anything going to happen between Jeanne and Guillaume? Is
somebody marked for death by poisoned chocolate? I would be consigned to film
reviewer Hell if I gave away MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT's tricky ending. (I will say
that Chabrol's closing shot for his film is a direct take on the closing moments of one
of my favorite Hitchcock films - ROPE.)
Although Isabelle Huppert is the film's most famous cast member, the acting kudos
go to young Anna Maoglalis. We don't know the full story behind her character,
Jeanne. This unpredictability prompts us to watch.
Chabrol started his career with self-funded thrillers like LES BONNES FEMMES
(1960) and BLUEBEARD (1962). His filmography pulls in a full range, from James
Bond styled fare like THE TIGER LIKES FRESH BLOOD (1964) to the award winning
domestic thriller VIOLETTE (1979, also starring Isabelle Hubbert). MERCI POUR LE
CHOCOLAT is Chabrol's 48th film.
SEDUCTION: THE CRUEL WOMAN
1985
Watching SEDUCTION: THE CRUEL WOMAN is like riding in a vw bug with a half dozen
dominatrixs. It's a wee bit too much. It's storyline concerns Wanda, a Hamburg art
gallery owner, who is also an S & M dominatrix. She gives customers kinky
performances starring herself, her maids and slaves. The performances dominate
(there's that word again!) much of the film's 84 minute running time. Like the story, the
dialog is at a minimum, which actually works. Literary fans will have fun spotting the
Marquis de Sade references in the story and performances. Had the film been cut by
about twenty minutes, the images of love and bonding turning sour and upside-down
would have haunted my sleep for days, but as it is, it just got repetitive.
One of the best things in the film was Udo Kier, best known for FLESH FOR
FRANKENSTEIN and BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ. With his beautiful speaking voice, it
was spooky to watch him as one of Wanda's slaves, constantly mistreated. The film was
made in 1985, a year before Adrian Lyne introduced bondage and discipline to
Hollywood with 9 1/2 WEEKS. German audiences watching this film had an additional
shock. The film's bizarre erotic-sadismo sets were designed by Xenia Katzenstein, who
right before this production was the Florence Henderson-like star of German coffee
commercials.
The film's co-writer and co-director, Eifi Mikesch, has an interesting directing
filmography, with such titles as DANISH GIRLS DO EVERYTHING, FEMALE
MISBEHAVIOR, DAILY CHICKEN and A VIRUS KNOWS NO MORALS.
I was disappointed that I didn't get to learn more about such a curious subject. For
example, the film never let us know that S & M people have their own flags. Its colors of
course, are black and blue (This is true, I assure you.).
1985
Watching SEDUCTION: THE CRUEL WOMAN is like riding in a vw bug with a half dozen
dominatrixs. It's a wee bit too much. It's storyline concerns Wanda, a Hamburg art
gallery owner, who is also an S & M dominatrix. She gives customers kinky
performances starring herself, her maids and slaves. The performances dominate
(there's that word again!) much of the film's 84 minute running time. Like the story, the
dialog is at a minimum, which actually works. Literary fans will have fun spotting the
Marquis de Sade references in the story and performances. Had the film been cut by
about twenty minutes, the images of love and bonding turning sour and upside-down
would have haunted my sleep for days, but as it is, it just got repetitive.
One of the best things in the film was Udo Kier, best known for FLESH FOR
FRANKENSTEIN and BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ. With his beautiful speaking voice, it
was spooky to watch him as one of Wanda's slaves, constantly mistreated. The film was
made in 1985, a year before Adrian Lyne introduced bondage and discipline to
Hollywood with 9 1/2 WEEKS. German audiences watching this film had an additional
shock. The film's bizarre erotic-sadismo sets were designed by Xenia Katzenstein, who
right before this production was the Florence Henderson-like star of German coffee
commercials.
The film's co-writer and co-director, Eifi Mikesch, has an interesting directing
filmography, with such titles as DANISH GIRLS DO EVERYTHING, FEMALE
MISBEHAVIOR, DAILY CHICKEN and A VIRUS KNOWS NO MORALS.
I was disappointed that I didn't get to learn more about such a curious subject. For
example, the film never let us know that S & M people have their own flags. Its colors of
course, are black and blue (This is true, I assure you.).
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