Review 3

Knife and Heart

Samantha Krupica

Yann Gonzalez’s Knife and Heart (Un Couteau Dans le Coeur) is a strikingly beautiful yet completely problematic film. Gonzalez like many amateur filmmakers tries too hard. In a failed attempt to be wholly original he crosses too many lines and accomplishes nothing more than angering the audience. The film stars the terrifyingly beautiful Vanessa Paradis. She is a thin, perhaps petite and strangely threatening, French model. Paradis portrays Anne who oversees and directs a gay porn company in the late 1970’s. She’s got the most insanely wild look in her eye and her character is fully aware of this insanity. The film is marketed as a thriller, a drama and a romance; however, it would be best to simply call it a crime or horror film. The majority of the film follows the mysterious masked figure who brutally murders nearly the entire cast.

Additionally, the film is characterized by its irrational characters, vivid cinematography and experimental film style. The film switches between the present with Anne to the movies she directs to several unexplained dream sequences. The scenes with Anne are clear and brightly lit while the movies are grainy and underexposed. Likewise, these dream sequences, which are later revealed as flashbacks, are shown as distorted, black and white and jumpy.

Much like the entire narrative arc of this film, the opening scene makes no sense. The sequence cuts between the editing of a film and a haunting nightclub. We are shown a mysterious masked figure who lures one of Anne’s actors back to his place, with zero dialogue and our only clue to his thoughts are “his” expressionless eyes. In the very next shot the masked man pulls out a black dildo from his pants. But this isn’t just any regular dildo, this is a knife-dildo. I can’t make this stuff up, this really happened in the opening shot of this Official Competition film. In a shocking turn of events the masked figure then murders the actor by stabbing him multiple times. The film had only been playing for roughly 10 minutes and quite a few people left. Immediately after this jarring opening, the film cuts to Paradis breaking down in a phone booth while calling her ex-girlfriend.

 Several juxtapositions between the murders and Anne obviously imply that she is the actual murderer of her own actors. The murderer’s small frame, wild eyes and mask all add to the ambiguity. However, the serial killer is not Anne or even anyone the audience has been introduced to. Instead, the murderer is a gay young man who survived an attempted murder from his own father many years prior. This man and his boyfriend were mutilated and burned in a country barn before he was saved by magic crows. All of this vital information is revealed at the very end of the film and the audience is reminded once again that the narrative of Knife and Heart is extremely absurd. Even more so, the killer is somehow revealed not to be Paradis as she sexually assaults her ex-girlfriend of 10 years. I was shocked, the strangers around me were shocked and even more people left the theatre early.

His commentary and tribute to the exploitation cinema of the 70’s is not the problem here. Although, I will admit, that I know nothing about the history of the porn industry. However, this hilarious commentary is purposefully overshadowed by a troubled serial killer.

Nicolas Maury’s character Archibald is the saving grace of the film. His purposeful, over the top acting and comedic style is, no doubt, the best part of the film. The two women in the film are poorly written and serve only as distracting objects to a film that is so wildly unorganized. The overall visual aesthetic of the film is also worth noting. The costume design of the gay 1970’s Parisian culture is another good aspect of the film. However, the designs of the film are nothing new. In fact, the coloring, lighting, costuming and hairs styles are all reminiscent of last year’s spy-thriller, Atomic Blonde.

While watching the film and even after the film I kept thinking that I missed something, that I had to have missed something. As an Official Competition film, I expected so much more. However, the film is more so a visual experience than anything of any narrative or cinematic importance. Overall, Knife and Heart was over-dramatic, bland and bad.

 Knife and Heart (Un Couteau Dans Le Coeur)

Thriller, Romance, Drama

100 min

Director: Yann Gonzalez

Producer: Charles Gillibert

Cast: Vanessa Paradis, Nicolas Maury and Kate Moran