Cold Water, five-hour-long Carlos the Jackal biopic
Carlos, and his recent supernatural drama
Personal Shopper construct cinematic experiments on top of traditional premises that still grab the most mainstream moviegoer. Most people will go see “the Kristen Stewart ghost movie,” but in Assayas’ hands, the plots, emotions, and critical observations always swerve into unexpected places.
The French director’s 2002
demonlover might take his sharpest turns. Often described as a postmodern neo-noir, the film stars Connie Nielsen (
Gladiator,
Wonder Woman) as Diane de Monx, a corporate spy hoping to swing control of the global adult animation market to her employer, Mangatronics. To do so, she infiltrates the executive levels of the Volf Corporation, drugs her boss, assumes control of the company’s major clients, and brokers a deal to license a Japanese animation studio’s 3D CG hentai. With the assets secured, negotiations begin with the equally shady Demonlover, an American hentai porn distribution company — but Diane’s deception doesn’t fly under the radar. Her business partner Hervé (Charles Berling), assistant (Chloë Sevigny), and everyone involved with Demonlover have their own secrets. The nature of their product — hypersexual, hyperviolent, hypersurreal — only creates a more crushing effect to the capitalist game of cat and mouse.