The Pornographer (2001/France)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: B
A while
back, we looked at an American independent film called The Pornographer (1999/2000), Douglas Atchison’s disappointing,
failed look at the industry in America today and the half-wit who tries to
become involved. Bertrand Bonello goes
the kind of step further Atchison failed to do, though the problem is it does
not take place in America, so that film one hoped Atchison had made has not
been produced yet. This French film is
also known as Le Pornographe and was released in 2001.
Here,
Jacques Laurent (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is a former director of XXX films in Europe
who decides to return from a hiatus from the work that put him on the map. He made enough remembered filmed XXX
features in the 1970s that it is easy to get set up again, unlike Burt
Reynolds’ American equivalent in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights
(1997) going down with the sinking ship of videotape replacing film. Ironically, the same result occurs in that
it is just not the same. Now, it is
just mechanical, something Bonello communicates well when we see a graphic sex
shoot, as well as how graphic all the film equipment is in its presence,
sharing the supposedly private space.
His wife dead, he also tries to communicate with his son Joseph (Jérémie
Renier) to get more of his personal life together.
Another
amusing item is that he was making the kind of 1970s XXX films that were
actually being touted as somehow artistic because they were from France, though
they would now appear better by default thanks to the changes in the industry
worldwide that make Jacques out of his element throughout the film. It says that the era of the pseudo art is
long gone and all it can leave behind id clichés and casualties. That makes it a bold film that succeeds in
what it is trying to say.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 image was shot on film by cinematographer
Josée Deshaies, who adds a certain flatness to the staged scenes, while
allowing the scenes in reality to look more naturalistic. That almost oversimplifies what happens
here, but is key nevertheless. The
source for the transfer is very clean and has some good moments of detail. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix is
relatively recent and not bad, with original music by Bonello and Laurie
Markovich. A Dolby 2.0 Stereo version
is also here, though not as good. Too
bad this was not DTS. Extras include
the original French theatrical trailer, trailers for eight other Koch Lorber
titles and the short film The Adventures Of James & David
that is in English. It is also here
anamorphically enhanced, runs about 10 minutes and seems possibly to be the
intended beginning of some serial story.
If you
can handle the graphicness, intelligence and maturity, The Pornographer is more than worth your time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
