House of Tolerance

Fine, sometimes impressively dizzying. But I keep imagining how great this could be if Bonello had the sense of directing an entire horror film, instead of a pair of frightening scenes: L'apollonide would be even more decadent, anti-erotic and suffocating, and its old fragrances would totally immerse the screen in anguish.

Prostitution has probably always been in general a system that makes sure men's violent potentials get contained by keeping women under strong power, but undeniably, there was a time when this containing was partially a channelling of those potentials towards expenditure and aesthetics, before this task was massively taken over by consumerism, online porn and Belle Delphine.

What an opening! The first scene of the movie is pretty good, too.

not the dour european arthouse effort i was expecting, either through the calculated misanthropy of a lars von trier, or the stern disapproval of a michael haneke, or the minimalist melancholy of a robert bresson. for all its atmospherics and themes, what spoke to me more than anything else was its deeply poignant expression of female friendship in the worst of circumstances. it is important that while the film is set in the early twentieth century, it is clearly anachronised to the present day.

Atmospheric, though slow-moving and not always thát interesting. The moments it dips into almost-horror territory are very powerful though, going hand-in-hand with the feelings of isolation and captivity. Looks gorgeous too, and not just because the cast is mainly scantily clad French beauties. Well, ok, it certainly doesn't hurt the experience.

"Tears of white semen/Your mouth is on the mend." - The Bonello Blues

A deceptively languid pace conceals a complex and genuinely unusual exploration of sexuality, commerce and identity. Like TIRESIA, it features a very specific act of violence perpetrated against a prostitute, and Bonello does indeed seem to be developing his thematic concerns, style and technique in very interesting and promising directions. Some very striking imagery and very good use of music. In part seems to refer to McCABE & MRS MILLER, but this is even more downbeat.

Bonello creates a stimulating atmosphere, as casual as life but effortlessly dramatised, evocative and sensual as some of the literature of the period.

I dislike split screens in film. Just cut really fast 8 times instead

Bizarre shit. Bonello's perspective deserves to be watch. However too many characters, too many stories. You may start your focus easily like I did.

Star Rating: ★★★★★

introduced me to possibly my favourite song of all time so clearly a masterpiece

a post-feminist Proust rewrites The Story Of O by way of Robbe-Grillet... or something?

bakalım trierin filmi bunu gecebilecek mi ? filmi ustad recep baba sayesinde izlemistim, malum kisi ve culop culop :=)) ali baba anladı

"A brief history of time and space, according to Bertrand Bonello." - Phil Coldiron

Basically an unintentional parody of stuffy French art films. Pretty hard to sit through.

Slow-paced and stylistically uneven but elaborately crafted film that finds the humanity and explores the tragedy of female sex workers in an elegant Parisian brothel.