12-13-2021, 02:19 PM
(seen on Kanopy)
In 1774, shortly before the French Revolution, the Puritan court of Louis XVI expels a small band of libertines, who seek refuge in a remote German forest where they hope to continue their rather unique lifestyle.
Is this based on fact? I don't know. What's important in order to understand this movie is the definition of libertine. I thought it was similar to liberal. Well, label me illiterate. A libertine is a person "who acts without moral principles or a sense of responsibility, especially in sexual matters."
The movie bookends itself between dusk and dawn, following the activities of these libertines over the course of one night. They don't congregate or talk much. They're just a loose assemblage of individuals who occasionally stumble onto one another in the shadowy forest. When they do talk, it's to describe what they would like to do to someone, or what they'd like others to do to them. Excrement is often mentioned, and piss, and puke. All forms of sodomy are entertained. And frequently all of these longings are acted upon. But oddly, the forest is the main character and commands the most attention, and what you hear most of the time are just the crickets or other forest noises. It's a very atmospheric film in this regard, with a dark sylvan beauty, and the humans are reduced to incidental animals who now and again appear, or interact.
These libertines are a motley group. Some are in finery and powdered wigs. There's ladies in hoop skirts -- even one strolling about in the hoops without the fabric, and naked beneath. There's bodies of all types -- thick, fatty, and hairy; or goonish; or a pretty boy; one who looks absolutely artificial until you realize he's a burn victim who's had a lot of plastic surgery, leaving him undernosed and with bulging eyes. These are director Serra's staple of non-actors which, along with a couple of real actors, he employs in his movies.
It's a mildly mesmerizing film. Nothing much happens of note, though perversity rears its often ugly head throughout. And it was jarring near the beginning when you first see these various people standing about in the dusky forest, fluffing themselves. Yes, fluffing themselves. Preparing for as yet unknown opportunities for lustful and perverse misadventures.
Again, I saw this on Kanopy, and this is about as close to straight porn as I've seen there.
I now know the definition of libertine. And I doubt I'll ever forget it.
Recommended for the crickets.
In 1774, shortly before the French Revolution, the Puritan court of Louis XVI expels a small band of libertines, who seek refuge in a remote German forest where they hope to continue their rather unique lifestyle.
Is this based on fact? I don't know. What's important in order to understand this movie is the definition of libertine. I thought it was similar to liberal. Well, label me illiterate. A libertine is a person "who acts without moral principles or a sense of responsibility, especially in sexual matters."
The movie bookends itself between dusk and dawn, following the activities of these libertines over the course of one night. They don't congregate or talk much. They're just a loose assemblage of individuals who occasionally stumble onto one another in the shadowy forest. When they do talk, it's to describe what they would like to do to someone, or what they'd like others to do to them. Excrement is often mentioned, and piss, and puke. All forms of sodomy are entertained. And frequently all of these longings are acted upon. But oddly, the forest is the main character and commands the most attention, and what you hear most of the time are just the crickets or other forest noises. It's a very atmospheric film in this regard, with a dark sylvan beauty, and the humans are reduced to incidental animals who now and again appear, or interact.
These libertines are a motley group. Some are in finery and powdered wigs. There's ladies in hoop skirts -- even one strolling about in the hoops without the fabric, and naked beneath. There's bodies of all types -- thick, fatty, and hairy; or goonish; or a pretty boy; one who looks absolutely artificial until you realize he's a burn victim who's had a lot of plastic surgery, leaving him undernosed and with bulging eyes. These are director Serra's staple of non-actors which, along with a couple of real actors, he employs in his movies.
It's a mildly mesmerizing film. Nothing much happens of note, though perversity rears its often ugly head throughout. And it was jarring near the beginning when you first see these various people standing about in the dusky forest, fluffing themselves. Yes, fluffing themselves. Preparing for as yet unknown opportunities for lustful and perverse misadventures.
Again, I saw this on Kanopy, and this is about as close to straight porn as I've seen there.
I now know the definition of libertine. And I doubt I'll ever forget it.
Recommended for the crickets.
