Curiosa

It is set in France during the time women had little choice in their lives. Often sheltered, knowing little about their bodies, and marriages were more for convenience and security than for love. Pierre takes pictures. First, with a camera that uses glass plates, and then being more happy to get a Kodak box camera. He has an Algerian woman, Zohra that he is partial towards, and she performs erotic dances before small groups of friends, as well as posing for him. Marie, who is in a rather loveless marriage, starts an affair with him. And her husband, Henri seems to accept that. And at first Marie accepts that Pierre sleeps around, but soon decides that she really loves him, and tells him she doesn't love Henri. This is not what Pierre has in mind, however. So as expected, things start to quickly get complicated. The cinematography is excellent, and crisp for those who may watch the movie for only one thing, and they will not be disappointed. But it can get boring. Part of that is the movie is paced to how things would unfold back then, not as would be current.

Social and cultural rules bound this woman to experience forced erotism while the same norms impulse voyeurism in a very finite group of men. In the end, pleasure is learnt and forced by continous dissaponting relationships. Noémie Merlant carries positively the weight of this chaotic film.

I only watched curiosa because Noémie Merlant from 'portrait of a lady on fire' is the lead actress. I thought she was brilliant in Céline Sciamma's film, but she is not good here. All of the acting was actually pretty laughable, everyone was trying way too hard and the performances ended up unintentionally funny. Especially Niels Schneider, he gives one of the worst performances I've seen in a while.

There is a lot fundamentally wrong with this film, but there were some things I did like about it. The cinematography was interesting and the shot composition isn't bad either. The use of reflections were pretty good, I love reflections being used to create interesting shots, not sure why but I do. Now onto the abundance of bad stuff.

The single worst element of curiosa is the screenplay. The dialogue is cringeworthy and everything that drives the plot forward just happens because the script says that it has to. There are so many conveniences as a result of extremely lazy writing.

So I love music, it's a huge part of my life, and I'd say I know quite a lot about it. The music in this film is some of the worst, ever. It doesn't fit the time period, and it doesn't fit any of the scenes that it's used in. It's also not composed well at all, it sounds awful.

Another issue I have with the writing is how the characters are written. None of the characters are relatable or likeable, again none of them were performed well, and they were so boring to watch. This whole film was one of the most boring experiences I've had in a long, long time.

Curiosa is not as interesting or deep as it thinks it is. It comes off so pretentious and as far as themes go, there's practically nothing. The only thing I can think of is that it tries to make a statement on male privilege. But the message is presented so poorly that it comes off as if the filmmakers believe that men are superior to women. I find this really interesting because Lou Jeunet, the co-writer and director of this film is a female. The presentation of this film let it down so much, not like the story was compelling anyway. I watched this a day ago and I'm ready forgetting what the story is, it's so boring and stupid.

It's just... dull. The actors are doing their best, but the slow paced, no-surprise directing and story just don't do it any good. I personally didn't feel any connection to any of the characters, it seemed like a cold movie with no soul.

Many people here like the music score. I don't. I don't see why you would use contemporary music in a period drama movie. They could've used some classical improvisation.

The french of the fin-de-siecle... cliche or not, they were amazing. But this film doesn't seem to catch the magic of them and those times.

It's repetitive, slow paced at times, empty from emotional point of view. Just doesn't deliver.

The basic plot could have been interesting: a woman is more or less forced to marry the best friend of her lover, who in turn marries her sister. Can love survive and find a way in this unconventional mess?

In the end I didn't really care, mostly because everything feels and looks like a very elegant and pretentious soap opera.