L'école de la chair

If there is one thing you can't blame the creators of this movie of, than it must be the fact that their movie is too sugar sweet. This is certainly not like any other romantic Hollywood movie that you may have seen in the past. This movie is actually a very good study of people and human nature in not so average but very recognizable situations.

"L'École de la Chair" or "The School of Flesh" could be the title of a cheap porn movie, but it certainly isn't. This is an intelligent movie about a mature fashion executive called Dominique who gets obsessed with Quentin, a bisexual male prostitute. He's a violent man who loves nobody but himself and yet she can't resist him. She is filled with passion, but hates the man at the same time because he always hurts her feelings and doesn't seem to love or care about her. What should she do? Should she show him the door or keep trying to get him out of the prostitution? Should she listen to her friends, colleagues, Quentin's former and current clients... who all try to help her, but sometimes do more harm than good?

Although I would like to say that everybody should watch this movie, I know for sure that not many will like it. This isn't the kind of movie that will easily reach a large audience. Nevertheless this is an interesting movie, but I guess it will be loved most by people who are used to watch this kind of movies or people who like the European cinema. Personally I liked what I saw and that's why I give it a 7.5/10.

This film is near the top of my list for best films out of France. It is a superb production. The scenes between Dominique (Isabelle Huppert) and Quentin (Vincent Martinez) are completely convincing with natural conversation and sensitive mood changes. While the disparity of ages between lovers is not a new theme, it has never been handled more expertly than here where the older woman wants to "possess" the young call-boy but he is determined to remain a free spirit. What is so arresting in this story is that we know so little about the characters and their past. But information is gleaned bit by bit from their conversations, and never very much, so we hunger for more as the story unfolds. The dewy-eyed Isabelle Huppert in the final scenes reveals her talent as a fine actress. A wonderful piece of cinema that holds you to the end...and what an ending when the two characters realize that their dream has ended and they now face the harsh realities of life.

"Middle-aged divorcee picks up barman in gay bar" isn't a promising plot-line; the title's soft-porn suggestion is also off-putting. But in fact it's a delicate and attractive handling of what could have been sordid relationships. The key word, I suppose, is "tender"; we are frequently led to expect violence (the barman Quentin is a kick-boxer - we watch him attacking a punchbag during the title sequence) but are instead surprised by reasonableness and gentleness. The few nude scenes manage to be erotic without ever being vulgar. Relationships are weird, the film (and Mishima's novel) seems to say, but there can still be tenderness in life. Isabelle Huppert exudes French charm . . .

I went to this film based solely on the reputation of Isabelle Huppert. I had heard she was one of the greatest actresses in Europe.

Well I have to agree, she is fantastically attractive and talented, and you could watch her for hours, but unfortunately that's what this film seemed like. I don't often fall asleep in the movies but I almost did on this one...

I guess my main problem with the film was that there was never any motivation that I could see for why such an ostensibly attractive and successful woman would do some of the things she did: take in this raggamuffin with the dubious past, and then proceed to take all of his bad treatment, infidelity, and neglect, while feeding and clothing him and giving him a place to live. I guess we are to assume he was just that good in bed, but I think the film would have benefited from a little more "flesh"ing out of the reasons behind the actions. Some will probably say I missed the "nuances" but I just kept asking *why* is she doing this, from their first date when she hung around while he played video games, through to the end. To me it just perpetuated the myth that women are suckers for a pretty face.

But all that said, it was still a pleasure to watch Huppert and I will look for her in other films at my video store.

Isabelle Ann Huppert is a gorgeous, mature woman. She dominates this film, and even though a strong cast supports her, she still dominates. Her motive for sticking with this jerk remains cloudy, unless he is the world's greatest lover. I was mesmerised by Huppert, however, and I will look for more films with her in them, and there are quite a lot of them.