There is something beautiful and heart-breaking about unfulfilled moments, sexually or otherwise, and the film captures these attempts at connection with unflinching honesty.
Gracefully and precisely, the film translates the book by Michel Houellebecq about the "atomisation" of society as experienced by four thirty-somethings in Paris.
In the book, Houellebecq makes a science of sexuality that is so esoteric at times that the reader can find themself only on the peripheral of his story. Yet the film takes the idea and strips it down to intimate portraits of the character's lives which you cannot help but identify with.
The story revolves around two half-brothers, Bruno and Michel, abandoned by their extremist hippy mother, whose frank attitude to sexuality increases Michel's diffidence and Bruno's existential frustration. The two alienate themselves from interaction, one through choice, the other through a lack of social skills at odds with his intense desire to connect. As a scientist, Michel focuses his rational mind on ways for humans to become more isolated through separating sex from reproduction, preferring in his personal life to study a photo of a person than actually involve himself in their life. Bruno is similarly sequestered as he relentessly pursues a life of debauchery which only serves to alienate him further.
The vision of contemporary society as disintegrated by sexual liberty and the pursuit of individualism is incredibly moving, particularly when the hope of new relationships is met with unforeseen circumstances. The film is worth seeing if only for the shockingly real look of anguish on Moritz Bleibtreu's face as he portrays Bruno's struggle. Just be warned, see it with friends so you can remind yourself that there is still hope in the world.
Gracefully and precisely, the film translates the book by Michel Houellebecq about the "atomisation" of society as experienced by four thirty-somethings in Paris.
In the book, Houellebecq makes a science of sexuality that is so esoteric at times that the reader can find themself only on the peripheral of his story. Yet the film takes the idea and strips it down to intimate portraits of the character's lives which you cannot help but identify with.
The story revolves around two half-brothers, Bruno and Michel, abandoned by their extremist hippy mother, whose frank attitude to sexuality increases Michel's diffidence and Bruno's existential frustration. The two alienate themselves from interaction, one through choice, the other through a lack of social skills at odds with his intense desire to connect. As a scientist, Michel focuses his rational mind on ways for humans to become more isolated through separating sex from reproduction, preferring in his personal life to study a photo of a person than actually involve himself in their life. Bruno is similarly sequestered as he relentessly pursues a life of debauchery which only serves to alienate him further.
The vision of contemporary society as disintegrated by sexual liberty and the pursuit of individualism is incredibly moving, particularly when the hope of new relationships is met with unforeseen circumstances. The film is worth seeing if only for the shockingly real look of anguish on Moritz Bleibtreu's face as he portrays Bruno's struggle. Just be warned, see it with friends so you can remind yourself that there is still hope in the world.