Watched this one with my friend Mace, as we had been talking about weird movies that are kind of hard to show to other people recently. He was very surprised that I hadn't seen this one, so we ended up queueing it up for movie night, and man, what a movie! Eerie, artsy, atmospheric, shocking, occasionally nauseating, everything I look for in a piece of media. It really kept me on the edge of my seat. The film revolves around an unnamed couple who, while having sex to the sound of a beautiful aria, completely miss the fact that their toddler just jumped out the window and fell to his death. To quote myself immediately after that scene, "Oh man. The post-nut clarity from this is going to be horrible", which summarizes the rest of the movie pretty well, I think.

I was initially very suspicious of Dafoe's character and his role in their relationship. Becoming her therapist after she developed debilitating anxiety in the aftermath of their child's death felt like a role that could easily be used to manipulate her. The movie does a great job of portraying his character as cold and detached, which I thought helped foster that growing sense of unease that I felt. Gainsbourg's acting was amazing and I couldn't believe it when I saw that she'd said she had never really experienced major anxiety before. Her character comes across as extremely vulnerable at the onset of the film, but the transformation that happens as we learn more about her and the cabin they find themselves in throughout the bulk of the film is insanely captivating. I thought that the depiction of their grief -- not only hers, but his too -- was really well developed, too.

This film features a lot of sex, and I mean a lot. And it doesn't pull punches either -- it pushes boundaries that other films of this genre might not. Full penetration, masturbation, getting your dick smashed with a very large block of wood, this movie really has it all. Not to mention the most shocking scene of the entire film, which I'll avoid spoiling and let you be as shocked as I was. I can't broach this subject without drawing attention to the fact that apparently, "[Dafoe's] penis was so large that everyone in the room got confused" so they had to hire a stunt double for some of these scenes. Putting the novelty aside for a second, the role of sex in this film is definitely something to note. Gainsbourg's character repeatedly accosts Dafoe's during emotionally intense scenes, seemingly to dull or distract from the pain she's experiencing from grief. As the film progresses, her approach becomes more animalistic and she begins to demand the same from him, and the violence only escalates as her true motivations are revealed in the third act of the film. Sex -- both biological sex and sexual intercourse -- seems to be a source of power and control for her, and much of the film seems to revolve around this theme.

I have a lot of feelings about the atmostphere in this movie. Many scenes played out as if in a storybook, in slow motion, dream-like, with almost ethereal lighting. Other scenes were a lot more visceral, fast paced, chaotic. Scenes depicting Gainsbourg's character experiencing intense anxiety included this odd visual smear effect that made me nauseous. The sound design was incredible, I really enjoyed the ominous backdrop of acorns falling during those cabin scenes. Combined with the arrival of the Three Beggars, the whole film feels like a nightmare come to life. I would recommend it just for the experience alone, but I would advise that due to some of the more violent scenes, this movie might not be for the faint of heart.