Anatomy of Hell

Some of us are more nimble than others at being so and some of us hide it well, but it is the human condition to be stupid. We all are and that's that. The best we can hope for is to find those that do it gracefully.

Make no mistake, Breillat is stupid. She would bring any gathering down and to have her as a friend would be a burden. And yet she has given me images that I carry around (with other gems) to serve as touchstones into the world of women.

Her films are poorly composed but there really are some cinematically perfect moments in every one.

So what you want to do is watch this (or any of them) and avoid at all costs any of her own interviews. I know what she intends. Its uninteresting, not worth the effort. The dialog is similarly a waste of life, but you cannot get to the images without it, so drudge through, please.

The reason is that she knows the power of vision and she moves the imagination of image with grace. All the droll theorizing I can forgive, even credit as bravery because she knows how the eye and mind work as tractors to the soul

There's a truly disturbing act of cowardice though at the very beginning, before the credits. We are told that the more "disgusting" things weren't actually done by the actress, but by a body double. Now why?

You might want to see this before "Loss of Sexual Innocence" which is equally banal in the same way, and as powerful.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

This is an extremely difficult film to watch, Certainly, I appreciated seeing it alone. It is not and experience I would wish to share in a theater.

Daniel Day-Lewis may "drink your milkshake," but I doubt very much if he would partake of the woman's (Amira Casar) tea made with a used tampon, and offered to the man (Rocco Siffredi) as a means of bonding. It gives "drinking the blood of my enemies" a whole new meaning.

Catherine Breillat has certainly pushed the envelope with this film about men and women and men's hatred and fears of women. There is really nothing erotic about this film; it is provocation meant to shock and awe.

That may be what is needed in the discussion, but it certainly takes a strong person to observe and think.

The Woman hires The Man, who happens to be gay, and can therefore be more objective (?) to observe her over four nights and comment on what he finds objectionable about women. The love/hate/fear between men and women is discussed and played out in a way I have not seen before, but in such a way that it really made me think. I believe that is Breillat's objective, and she certainly achieved it.

It is not meant to be erotic, and it is not pornographic, although is ostensibly has real sex included, but is, shall we say, meant to provoke discussion.

I have seen this movie yesterday.Well,those who are fans of Amira Casar may like to see this film.. Otherwise it is a boring one. The dialog between Rocco Siffredi (porn Star) and Amira Casar(well known actress) is not realistic. Amira Casar plays mostly naked but just like a model for an artist. She is lying on the bed without any movement. There are some explicit scenes one of which was female close-up genitals.But it is obvious that those close-up genitals are not belong to Amira Casar. Probably another porno star has played on these scenes on behalf of her . She is a good actress for sure but in this film she was just like a sculpture . May be she was uneasy due to play role in the sexual scenes with a porn star with his erect penis . There are some unbelievable obnoxious scenes also such as licking and drinking menstruation blood.

This was the first movie I saw from writer/director Catherine Breillat. I liked it so much that I also saw Romance, and A real young Girl. I'm looking forward to Fat girl, and 36 Filette which I've heard good reviews on. The DVD for Anatomy of Hell has an interview with Catherine Breillat that I thought was very interesting and I highly recommend watching it right after the movie. Anatomy of Hell focuses on a women {Amira Casar} paying a homosexual man {Rocco Siffredi} to watch her in her home during her most private moments. It contains graphic sexual material but in a learning context. The woman's character seems to want to take the shame out of being a women by showing a man {who is disgusted by women} her most feminine self. By doing so they connect on a very raw level. I enjoyed the movie. If you like Catherine Breillat's particular form of artistry you may like some of her other movies as well.

As one of the most controversial (or notorious) contemporary directors, Catherine Breillat seems to push her cinematic expression to further extremity in her every new works. However, it must be noticed she was actually preaching the same theme sexual battle in all these movies, only the stories become more and more simplified, instead of which explicit images play the role of supplements to abstract lecturing. Anatomie de L'enfer is unexceptionally the latest development of her filmic experiment to challenge the traditional ideology both on screen and off screen. The movie was mainly shoot in a room, where the actor and the actress talked about sex (and things related) as well as having sex. Through their conversation and the monologue of the director's voice in the background, again the audiences find the same elements from Catherine Breillat¡¯s previous movies¡ªthe contempt, the hatred, the desire to conquer each other between the two sexes¡ªthough this time she set up a even more extreme scenario to prove her theory, that regardless the chronic anti-woman complex, even his own sense of superiority over women, the man in the movie fell into the fascination of female body (sex)¡on the other hand, overwhelmed by his animal instinct¡ªduring watching the woman exhibiting herself. Moreover the man's self-abasement and self-deceit at the end of the movie emphasized his failure, and more importantly, his sense of failure. Thus Catherine Breillat reveals her perception about the puzzle of sexual relationship¡ªmen are after all capricious children (hinted in the scene of children playing doctor and patient game), who mask their greed to what they are eager for, and turn to hate it if unable to have it. Naturally such desperate view won¡¯t be appreciated by the majority, which makes her a heathen among the believers of ethical love. Then again, her brilliancy lies in her metaphysical research on the topic, even it might be stray or biased. The real stupidity is judging her by the keep-it-simple-stupid rule, as in most occasions how the conservatives treat the pioneers, and the implicit treat the thoughtful.