Liberté

Albert Serra's "Liberte"(2019)is art for the sake of art. The film is meticulously paced and shot to create a "Peeping Tom" effect. The storyline is based on a play written by Serra and the film follows the format of a play. Immediately it is thus not everyone's cup of tea. The theme, which focus on high brow libertarians who who effectively ex-communicated by Louis XVI and who enjoys a night of debauchery also will not find favour with most audiences. That said Serra has a unique way of making light of famous works of the era, most notably those of the Marquis de Sade, and the film never feels heavy or for that matter pornographic (this despite some visuals which will not sit well with the Bible schools). The film is more about a bit of a chuckle than anything else and works rather well. 8/10.

It's impossible to write spoilers for this film, since there is no plot to spoil. The film is just a record of an all-night orgy in a European forest around the time of the French Revolution. The participants are a group of international noblemen and women, and their servants.

It takes place at night in a dark forest, so you hardly see anything, and when you do see something, you're not sure what it is. Although the participants talk of wild erotic fantasies, what they actually do is pathetic, boring, and grim. Male masturbation, urinating, and getting whipped seem to be the extent of their perversions. You see several penises, none erect. Nobody seems to be having much fun at this orgy. Participating in it seems to be as unpleasant as watching it. Mostly, you see lots of people standing around doing nothing for long periods of time. It's supposed to be erotic, but the astonishing thing is: it's so boring!

The only reason I can think of for seeing this film is titillation. But you will see far more in a 3-minute clip on an internet porn site than you will find in this endless film. It's over two hours long, and feels more like 5. I give this film one star, for the costumes and makeup, which manage to make each male look uglier than the next. If being depraved and debauched offers such poor benefits, I think I will stay praved and bauched. Perhaps that's the director's intention.

\When the film started, the cinema was full. By the time it finished, there were only about 10 viewers left.

I gave 1 star just because 0 is not possible. Nothing can evacuate a movie theater faster than this film, including a poisonous gas attack. All we saw throughout 2 hours was a bunch of zombie-like men and women pissing on each other. There is nothing aesthetical, artistic, creative in the movie. Characters are pure psychopaths with empty eyes who lack sexual imagination. They do not arouse any sexual feelings. All they do is make you vomit. It can not be even classified as rough . Total waste of time.

The film somehow tries to make a reflection about pleasure, pain and its popular acceptance, but it fails to do so: dialogues are vague, weak and unmeaningful, and the action simply portrays a series not-mainstream sex scenes (i.e. anus eating and peeing) aimed to provoke an uneasy feeling to the untrained spectator. On the other hand, the lightning, costumes and make up were good, but not enough to watch it again. Nonetheless, it's always an interesting experience to be confronted to these kind of films, it may turn out well for you!

The director promised to explain his film in a Q&A that was supposed to follow the screening. We left early. Even the slow traffic in the streets seemed more interesting than what we had just witnessed. I can explain traffic. People are going from A to B. That's more interesting. Believe me.