"There are insightful moments about the delicate relationships between a director and her cast, and about the mind games that go on both behind the camera and in front of it."-Andrew Sarris, NEW YORK OBSERVER
"It's refreshing to see this side of Breillat, a self-reflective artist whose evident anger over the sexual state of the world doesn't entirely subsume her, or her humanity."
-John Anderson, NEWSDAY
"A rigorous and bracingly charming movie about moviemaking."
-Ty Burr, BOSTON GLOBE
Perhaps the least extreme of the films we will watch, SEX IS COMEDY is a commentary on what it means to represent sex on screen from the perspective of the actor and the director. In this meta-film, a Breillat surrogate must work with two young actors as well as her crew to capture a moment of raw intimacy and intensity. The director employs numerous and often contradictory strategies to achieve her goal and edges the border of exploitation, sadomasochism, and touches on issues of consent. How far must one push oneself or others in the pursuit of art? This is the central question of Breillat's film and her cinema overall. As we continue with her work, a fascination with the obscene, that which should not be seen, will continue and SEX IS COMEDY is an excellent text that Breillat provides to explain her method and motivations.
Suggested Secondary Screenings: IRMA VEP (Olivier Assayas, 1996), BEWARE OF A HOLY WHORE (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1971), DAY FOR NIGHT (Francois Truffaut, 1973), CONTEMPT (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963), BROKEN EMBRACES (Pedro Almodovar, 2009), THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS (Lars von Trier, 2003) and H STORY (Nobuhiro Suwa, 2001).
I found myself antsy while watching this film. My interest in the characters never faded, in fact it increased. Plus, films about filmmaking always entertain because there are so many dynamic relationships that exist on a set. What made me antsy is the fact that I was so incredibly impatient with the entire process. When I make films, all these little moments I savor, and easily pay my purest patience to, for they are absolutely crucial to the films success. However, when watching these intimate scenes between directors, actors, crew members, and the like I was intriguingly annoyed. Watching this films proved to be a paradoxical experience for me, as most things in my life. Despite my uneasiness, The characters all made me hate them and love and appreciate their development at the same time. This is the predominant theme in the film: Love vs. Hate. Rather, Love in collaboration with Hate. The build was incredibly crafted, by every nuance of the directors method, clashing with the actors needs, forcefully evolving the crews work schematics. Breillat obviously lives and breathes every moment she shows us. The honesty is paramount. Not many films speak so honestly: either they downplay the vulgarity of a situation, or they over-compensate for lacking substance by employing dramatic special-effects. I'm glad that Sex Is Comedy IS actually a comedy.
ReplyDeleteGood work, Cat.
After watching the interview with Breillat in class, I agree that she is unabashedly an intellectual, and seems to wear that on her sleeve. Breillat’s opinions on cinematic veracity were intriguing, if aggressive. She carries a lot of these ideas into “Sex is Comedy.” As the film depicts, shooting a motion picture can be an exhausting, conflict-fraught experience. The filmmaker in “Sex is Comedy,” Jeanne, embodies the taxing process. She exhibits an anger and frustration when art doesn’t reach her lofty standards, and rails against any impediments (human beings very much included) that hinder her vision. I’ve often heard of James Cameron referred to as a megalomaniac on set; Breillat may be the female version of a kindred spirit.
ReplyDelete“Sex is Comedy” was well worth the time. However, as I once heard, people make excuses for negative emotions (like anger) because they excuse us from our actions. Jeanne does just that. She repeated how painful the process can be, and that she didn’t enjoy fiercely criticizing (often insulting) her actors; that she felt bad afterwards, and didn’t really mean it, arguing that it was necessary. This is placing art above decency, and it’s making the assumption that Jeanne (or Breillat?) is close to achieving a truth that ultimately trumps damage left in its wake. I cannot side with many of her opinions, but I can say that “Sex is Comedy” succeeds as entertainment, revealing facets of filmmaking that are, indeed, comedic, and provokes thought through the undeniably absorbing story of an obsessive director.
After viewing "Sex is Comedy", I found myself wondering what exactly makes extreme. There really wasn't anything that I found in the film to be as crazy as what we have been seeing in class. I did like how it worked as a meta film, crossing over into the film "Fat Girl" which is what I guess is the connection to the genre besides the director. Watching the creation of the sex scene and the relationship of the actors involved was interesting to see, since we as the audience only ever see the finished process. It always amazed me when I heard stories about actors who hated each other who were involved in sex scenes. I now understand how difficult that situation may be for a director after watching this film. It was cool to see how the director was almost manipulating these two people to actually like each other and deal with one another.
ReplyDeleteSex is Comedy was a nice break from the death, torture, and rape of our normal films. It was nice to see a director who is so controversial make a film that was actually funny. The relationships between the characters were lovely to watch (especially the director and her assistant), and the difference dynamics between the director and the two actors shines a light on the manipulative nature of the profession. Watching this after Fat Girl was especially interesting because of its almost autobiographical nature. Though the film doesn't have the same rawness that Fat Girl has, it is a nice play on an extremely controversial film. It proves the Breillat does not just use sex gratuitously, nor does she take the filming of such scenes lightly. The seemingly light-hearted film proves just how brilliant Breillat's work is and her ability to work outside the extreme movement.
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