Anatomy Of Hell (Subtitled)

If there is one thing that this film has taught me, it is to pay closer attention to what a critic will say about it on the DVD package. In this case, there are two quotations on the back of the DVD that read as follows: 1) "That’s One Effed-Up Film." *John Waters, Filmmaker (the reigning director of bad taste with the likes of Serial Mom, and Cry Baby), and 2) "Going Where No Movie Has Gone Before, Whether Mainstream Or Porn." *Jami Bernard, NY Daily News. These quotations both sum up Anatomy Of Hell perfectly. It’s almost like going through hell to watch it. It’s extreme nature of explicitness, combined with the most disturbing imagery of blood and sex, truly puts it in a category all its own. If John Waters thinks its messed up, then you better believe it is.

Trying to pry some sense of a story from this film is a difficult task to do. The movie is intended and executed on a whole different level. It’s not a love story, but it is an experiment in entomological theory about the sexual relationships/differences/physicality between men and women, centered around two people (a homosexual man, and a suicidal woman). It’s hard to see the film’s purpose, let alone a storytelling yarn. For a film that is so out there, I can’t believe its quality. The picture is almost perfect, and the sound quality is perhaps the best I’ve ever heard off of a foreign film DVD (its got a French DTS to prove it), but the sound is only effective in two scenes (the opening club scene, and outside by the ocean). On the features side, you can watch an interview with director Catherine Breillat (with English subtitles that aren’t clear enough in some instances) that sheds some light on the film’s events, and simultaneously makes the film all the more head-scratching (especially when she goes on a verbal metaphorical tangent).

The film’s trailer is intriguing, as it actually presents the film in a more interesting and engaging fashion (highlighting its presence at the Toronto International Film Festival). The other trailers from the production company Tartan are all a waste, save for one called Passion (starring Molly Parker), which looks more effective on the sensual scale than Anatomy Of Hell.

My advice on this one is to stay away, far away. The images the film presents will disgust and haunt you more, than any of the film’s possible redeeming qualities (although where they are I have no idea). Granted, the director states in her interview that you can’t take what happens in the film in the literal fictional sense, but more as an illusion or a metaphor. Either way, the movie’s art house value may be high to some, but definitely not for this reviewer.