Sweet Movie

While part of the Everyman Critics is broadening each others movie viewing there are some movies that i watch that may not be suitable for everyone's viewing. Rather than subject everyone to some of my more provocative movie viewing habits i will post reviews in the blog of some movies that won't be discussed with everyone else. This does not mean though that i won't push the boundaries every so often and make my fellow Everyman Critics watch movies they really don't want to watch. :)

-dan



This first installment will focus on a film that i watched not that long ago and mentioned during the Hurt Locker review.

Sweet Movie (1974)
98 min, Avant-garde, NR
Directed by Dusan Makavejev
Starring:
Carole Laure, Pierre Clémenti, Anna Prucnal

Rating – 8/10

Overview –
Two stories about two very different women intercut by documentary footage of Nazis discovering mass graves of Polish officers executed by the USSR. One story is about a virgin who wins a game show to marry a billionaire businessman. She is subjected to various sexual humiliations by her new husband, the family bodyguard (who packs her in a suitcase and sends her to Paris) and a Latin singer. These humiliations leave her in a catatonic state and she is taken to a commune and nursed back to health through ritualistic treatment. The other story is about a woman who has been the lover of many revolutionaries. She has a boat that is filled with candies. She falls in love with another revolutionary and seduces some youths to join the cause and then kills them all.

Review –
While on the surface this film would appear to be a film meant only for people that are looking for shock value and titillation there is a deeper meaning that makes this film recommended viewing for people with an open mind. The story of the virgin can be seen as a commentary on capitalism; how capitalism is stripping humanity of the things that make us human and that in order to repair the damage that is being done we need to relieve ourselves of this and to acknowledge some of our most basic instincts. In doing this we can then be nurtured back to a healthy civilization. The story of the lover can be seen as a commentary on how we crave revolution or change. We hear the vague responses to what we desire and we begin to sugarcoat reality so we don’t have to see the truth behind some of these ideals which in turn kills the revolution. The bodies of those revolutionaries are then brought to light and reborn again to repeat the cycle. The documentary footage was quite provocative at the time as it was footage in opposition to what the Soviet Union was professing regarding the Katyn Massacre. There is still more to be gleaned from this film, but i will leave it up to the viewer to research and obtain this information themselves. Overall, this is a film i wouldn’t suggest to just anyone, but if you are willing to put in the time i think that this film can open up for you.