Movie Tagline: Love is desolate. Romance is temporary. Sex is forever.
Catherine Breillat is probably the most controversial female filmmaker ever. Actually, no, Catherine Breillat is definitely the most controversial female filmmaker ever. Her 1976 film debut, A Real Young Girl (Une Vraie Jeune Fille), was banned from theaters until the year 2000 because it depicts the sexual awakening of a 14-year-old girl in graphic detail. This frank treatment of sexual themes permeates her entire filmography, as does a focus on gender politics, intimacy, violence, and sibling rivalry. It would be impossible to select her most controversial movie, as they all offend people in one way or another. Fat Girl (À ma sœur!) has an extended scene where a man coerces a teen into anal sex. Anatomy of Hell (Anatomie de l’enfer) shows a man drink tea made from a used tampon. The list goes on and on. But we've decided to focus on a different Breillat effort, 1999's Romance (Romance X). Romance is about a young woman, Marie, and her search for intimacy. Her boyfriend refuses to have sex with her, which leads her down a path that includes random sexual encounters, a series of relationships, and a sadomasochistic engagement with a much older man. She eventually gets her boyfriend to have sex with her, whereupon she gets pregnant. But this doesn't repair the rift between the couple, and she eventually leaves him in spectacular fashion. Romance is an odyssey of sexual awakening, which makes it sound like it belongs on a premium cable channel's late-night lineup (we're looking at you, Cinemax). But it is told firmly from the point of view of the female protagonist. This movie is in no way filtered through the male gaze. It is very true to its feminine sensibilities. And that's not to say it's "girlie". This is a very adult movie, in case you couldn't tell by now. But Breillat is not interested in a masculine point of view. Cinema (and, indeed, the world at large) doesn't need any more insight into that. In her own words: "There is no masculine psychology in my cinema. There is only the resentments and desires of women. A man should not attempt to recognize himself in my male characters. On the other hand, he can find [in the films] a better understanding of women. And knowledge of the other is the highest goal."
Breillat's movies are graphic in their depictions of sex and, to a lesser extent (though she may argue they go hand in hand), violence. But she is not a pornographer, as many have tried to label her. She uses frankness, sometimes to an almost clinical degree, to explore women and their understanding of their own sexuality. She shows us how women are made (by men, usually, but not exclusively) to do things they don't want to do. How they are made to hate their bodies for not being perfect. How they are afraid to voice their displeasure with something for fear of being labeled a difficult woman. A shrew. A bitch. They are marginalized and abused, but if they try to take back control over their bodies they run the risk of being labeled as loose. A tramp. A whore. Breillat tackles these topics head-on, and she is not afraid to rattle a few cages in getting her message across. Her films are bold and distinctive. Once you are familiar with her work, you can tell right away when you are watching a Catherine Breillat movie, which goes to show that she is a true auteur.
To be honest, it can easily be seen as an insult to pair this dense study of feminine sexuality with a beer called "MILF". But the reality is that Mother's Brewing has created a supremely dense, complicated beer that has all the nuance of a Catherine Breillat movie and still manages to be emotionally explosive (also like a Catherine Breillat movie). Lots of care and thought was put into this beer. Brewed with cocoa nibs and raisins before being aged in rum, sherry, bourbon, brandy and whiskey barrels, this massive beer takes on the flavors from the spirit and wood of each and every barrel. The smell of this dark beauty is fruity, spicy, boozy; amazingly complex. The taste is even more complicated, with flavors melding from one to the next with wild abandon. Every drink of this beer is different. Every time it touches your tongue you pick up something else. In lesser hands, this beer could have been a mess; a hodgepodge of disparate flavors competing for dominance. But it isn't. Every aspect works in harmony to create something truly unique. So, with this in mind, hopefully we can be forgiven for the seemingly insensitive nature of this pairing. Just like Breillat's films being called pornographic by people who can't handle their graphic nature, MILF might be too extreme for some people's tastes, but that doesn't make it any less of a towering artistic achievement.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AboutThis is the page where the pairings live. They are over there, to the left of what you are currently reading. I don't know how you missed them. Archives
August 2016
Categories
All
|