L'école de la chair

Director Benoît Jacquot (Right Now) has taken a script by Jacques Fieschi, based on a Japanese novel by Yukio Mishima, added superstar Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher) and Vincent Martinez, in his first acting role to give us an interesting and satisfying look at the older woman/younger man romance.

While having a younger man was satisfying for Dominique (Huppert), the effort to keep him was physically and emotionally exhausting. It did not help that Quentin (Martinez) earned a living being available to men as well.

Huppert is a guarantee for a good show, and she can act, too - a satisfying combination.

Isabelle Ann Huppert is a gorgeous, mature woman. She dominates this film, and even though a strong cast supports her, she still dominates. Her motive for sticking with this jerk remains cloudy, unless he is the world's greatest lover. I was mesmerised by Huppert, however, and I will look for more films with her in them, and there are quite a lot of them.

If there is one thing you can't blame the creators of this movie of, than it must be the fact that their movie is too sugar sweet. This is certainly not like any other romantic Hollywood movie that you may have seen in the past. This movie is actually a very good study of people and human nature in not so average but very recognizable situations.

"L'École de la Chair" or "The School of Flesh" could be the title of a cheap porn movie, but it certainly isn't. This is an intelligent movie about a mature fashion executive called Dominique who gets obsessed with Quentin, a bisexual male prostitute. He's a violent man who loves nobody but himself and yet she can't resist him. She is filled with passion, but hates the man at the same time because he always hurts her feelings and doesn't seem to love or care about her. What should she do? Should she show him the door or keep trying to get him out of the prostitution? Should she listen to her friends, colleagues, Quentin's former and current clients... who all try to help her, but sometimes do more harm than good?

Although I would like to say that everybody should watch this movie, I know for sure that not many will like it. This isn't the kind of movie that will easily reach a large audience. Nevertheless this is an interesting movie, but I guess it will be loved most by people who are used to watch this kind of movies or people who like the European cinema. Personally I liked what I saw and that's why I give it a 7.5/10.

There is something extraordinary about the two leads in this movie. Vincent Martinez was initially quite appalling to look at - scrawny, brooding with features more akin to a caricature! However, as the film progresses, one can sense a certain charisma and physical presence that he projects more and more palpably; yes, even from a man's perspective. But that's as far as it goes for him...

As for Isabelle, my! What an actress, what a woman! These French actress: Catherine Deneuve, Adjani, Beart - very few Hollywood actresses can be placed in the same league as them. This is my first time seeing Ms Huppert perform and I was really blown away. She brought so much contradicting sides to her character and she made them so believable. The character is strong in career and personality, yet vulnerable in her devotion to the above-mentioned man-animal. She is decisive and purposeful in life choices of career, marriage and the man-in-her-life yet defers constantly to the whims and fancies of him. You get the picture!

Anyway, with one single long shot of her face as betrayal, despair and sadness climax into a single track of tears - extraordinary! No self-pity, no cloying sentimentality; just plain sadness at the state of affair....At first glance, she did not appear extraordinarily beautiful. But as the film progresses, she looked increasingly radiant and one can't help but feel drawn to her.

One of the best film I've seen at this year's film festival where more is said through pregnant silences than confrontations and accusations a la Hollywood.

"Middle-aged divorcee picks up barman in gay bar" isn't a promising plot-line; the title's soft-porn suggestion is also off-putting. But in fact it's a delicate and attractive handling of what could have been sordid relationships. The key word, I suppose, is "tender"; we are frequently led to expect violence (the barman Quentin is a kick-boxer - we watch him attacking a punchbag during the title sequence) but are instead surprised by reasonableness and gentleness. The few nude scenes manage to be erotic without ever being vulgar. Relationships are weird, the film (and Mishima's novel) seems to say, but there can still be tenderness in life. Isabelle Huppert exudes French charm . . .