Some deal, man, 23 quid for commerce, then she 180's with scissors (1975)
Hailed as the greatest film of all time by Sight and Sound, this stylistically impressive movie handsomely employs Yasujiro Ozu's «tatami shot» style of static camera, low-angle framing. On content however, the movie could do with a coupla hours trimming. Or a script with something more than a far too long setup for a one-note punchline of a simpleminded screed of a «feminist statement». Almost 3,5 hours of tedious (but beautifully composed, mind you) minutia in the life of a stay-at-home whore who just barely musters the energy to stare blankly at nothing just off camera in every shot, (most everybody else in the movie stares right into the lens, by the way) while sleepwalking through her daily routine of buying food, making food, drinking coffee, sending her son off to school, whoring, (just one customer per day and weekends off, as this is not a very ambitious whore) and then, after 3+ hours of cinematic shallowness she happens to have an orgasm with one of the pathetic men she exploits, momentarily waking her from her comatose life and in the epiphany that sometimes comes, you know, when you come, she realizes how devoid of joy and meaning her life is. And as this is now close to the end of the movie and as this flick is made by a woman, who is also a feminist, WE DO NEED A MESSAGE!!. .Our whoring heroine is of course not going to learn anything from her cumming, is she? She is not going to mend her ways and take responsibility for her life, is she? Maybe try an honest days work? Helping her son learn to respect women, by not raising him in a brothel, sustaining him on prostitution? No?
No, she's the messenger here and the message is clear; she is the «victim». Which she proves by stabbing her customer to death with a pair of scissors. The movie ends then, true to form, nicely framed with 10-15 minutes of her emptily gazing at nothing just off camera. Profound...
No, she's the messenger here and the message is clear; she is the «victim». Which she proves by stabbing her customer to death with a pair of scissors. The movie ends then, true to form, nicely framed with 10-15 minutes of her emptily gazing at nothing just off camera. Profound...
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