Death in Love
2007
Here's another cheery film. This time the source of jubilation is holocaust
survivor guilt. The story takes place in 1993 and Jacqueline Bisset stars as
an aging Jewish mother who compromised herself during her stay at a WW2
concentration camp, exchanging - well, whatever was necessary - to stay alive.
In the present, she torments herself for the guilt she feels about having had
a comfortable life while her friends all died around her, all because she was
willing to become the concubine of a sadistic Nazi who specialized in
experimental surgery. She also torments everyone around her with arrogant
rages.
She married a weakling and, as you might expect, raised two sons with
serious emotional problems. The older is a misogynist who exploits women in
many ways, personal and professional, and whose sex life consists of S&M. The
younger son is an introverted pianist who is virtually incapable of human
contact, and conducts his own sex life vicariously through his brother.
In some hands this premise might have had the potential to deliver an
Oscar-winning drama, or at least that potential might have existed if some of
the ideas were not already overworked to the point of being hackneyed. For
example, several elements in this film, including some of the mother's secrets portrayed in the 1993 sequences,
evoke memories of The Night Porter. In the hands of this auteur, however, the film comes off as
not merely a copycat, but as having copied something which was not a very good
idea to begin with, thus making the entire project seem like an exploitive exercise in
Holocaust Grand Guignol. There are some bloody surgery scenes intercut with
sex scenes, and also some rough sex of the non-surgical variety. Making
matters worse, the dialogue is artificial, like something out of a 1930's
stage play.
After its Sundance debut it just more or less disappeared for 18 months
before arriving quietly on home media. That is an indication of its total lack
of commercial appeal, and the ultimate statement on it's artistic appeal is
that it was poorly received at Sundance in 2008. Think about that - the
Sundance crowd turning their manicured thumbs down on a Holocaust movie - and
you'll think twice before spending any time on it.
On the other hand, it does allow you to experience all the depression and
despair and pretentiousness of an "art" film with none of that actual pesky
art or originality to get in the way.
If that's your bag, man.
NUDITY
various - You probably don't
want to see this. There are some breasts, but they are from unknowns, and the
clip has everything possible to make your erection disappear. Pretentious
narration, holocaust cruelty, graphic surgery, old people. OK, maybe not
EVERYTHING. There's no Rosie O'Donnell.
Vanessa Kai - This isn't
much better. Vanessa is into pain, so her man has to kick her around a bit to
get her off.
Morena Baccarin - this
is the closest the film comes to anything sexy. It is spoiled by some
contrived and malicious theatrical dialogue, but at least all the malice is
confined to words this time and nobody spills any blood. Morena is attractive,
and is the official go-to chick for Sci-fi. She was in Serenity and Stargate,
and is slated to appear in the new V series.
Various other imagers have done samples of this
scene:
