Brownian Movement

Charlotte rents a secret apartment. She lives with Max and their son Benjamin in Brussels. She's a researcher professor and she takes some of her male patients to the secret apartment to have sex. She encounters one of those men later and violently attacks him. She goes to therapy with Max and she loses her license to practice. Next, they're in India with the new addition of twins but it's not as good as it first appears to be.

There is little dialog especially with the large number of sex scenes. It's a quiet movie. My main problem with that is the lack of emotions for much of the movie. Sandra Hüller plays the cold lead character. She never really lets the audience into the character. Nanouk Leopold is the writer/director. In between the sex scenes, this is a character study movie but it doesn't necessary do a good job. There are little snippets of insight but a whole lot of nothing.

The star's write up in the current New Yorker Magazine led me to this film. With all the predictable, derivative fare these days, it is a welcome relief. I lament all the panning user reviews, entirely missing the point.

Charlotte the brilliant research physician reminds one of the Good Doctor and Astrid Neilsen in her extraordinary professional abilities. But unlike them, she passes for neurotypical. Her relationship with her pre-school-age son is normal as apple pie.

The linguistic fragmentation of her daily life portends what will happen. She is German. She is married to an American. English is spoken at home and at work. Official stuff in Brussels is in French. The language of the streets is Flemish.

She has a crack-up, taking the form of sexual acting out with unattractive, Flemish-speaking men. The lurid sex scenes make the sheer perverseness vivid. She has encountered ugly bodies alive and dead in her time, after all. The sex is much like the drinking in Le jour du vin et des roses (1962). Only if those scenes are misunderstood out of context can one think this is mere soft-core porn.

Against all odds, her husband stands by her as the repercussions blow back. Perhaps he would not have done so, had she not been such a good lay. The moral of the story? When someone in your life experiences a crack-up, the right thing to do is be there for him/her.

While recovering, she gives birth to twins. The symbolism cannot get heavier-handed than that!

I think this film stands on the shoulders of Répulsion (1965) and Belle de jour (1967).

"Brownian Movement" is clearly an art house sort of film with little in the way of appeal to the average viewer. This isn't a criticism...more a description for the sort of audience this film is trying to reach. And, like many art house and film festival movies, it will either be adored or hated by viewers.

The film has no context. Why people do what they do, you really don't know nor does the film try to convey this. Instead, the leading character just acts...and you have no idea why or what preceded it. You can assume she's unhappy in her marriage...but you aren't 100% sure and you have no idea what the husband is experiencing through much of the story. You learn about some....but it comes across very, very slowly.

Charlotte (Sandra Hüller) has many reasons to be happy. She has a child, a handsome husband, a prestigious job. But she also has gotten an apartment where she has sex with many different sorts of men. Now the men are mostly NOT attractive and the sex is very mechanical and often totally devoid of energy or connection...it just is. Because of this, there is a significant amount of nudity and adult content. But here's where it's unusual...it's not at all sexy or attractive or stimulating to watch. It manages to do something almost impossible....make sex dull and unappealing. There are also a couple times you swear that the woman is completely insane...such as when she later viciously attacks one of her sexual conquests for no discernable reason. She also appears much of the time to be clinically depressed. What happens next...well, you can see the film and find out for yourself.

To heighten this sense of dullness and detachment, the director chose to often use a stationary camera and sometimes placed it at floor level...like the super-famous Japanse director, Ozu. There also was little in the way of dialog nor energy of any sort. If this sounds like it might interest you, be my guest and by all means watch the movie. As for me....it left me wanting to watch a comedy or romance....SOMETHING to make me feel something! The basic story might have worked had there been energy and something to make the audience care.

The bottom line is that if you are looking for porn, look elsewhere....you could find so much better. And, if you are looking for a film that is satisfying to most viewers, look elsewhere....this one will likely leave you feeling confused and cold...very, very cold.

I had no idea what this movie would be about. But it played at the Berlin International Film Festival this year and the title sounded intriguing. Plus it did fit into my schedule. It really goes all the way and is pretty harsh and raw. While you never really get into the head of our main actress, she seems to bear it all. So this isn't for the delicate viewers amongst us.

Unfortunately it is not as good as I'd wish it would be. It tries very hard to be something poetic, something that will make you think about things. Philosophical even, if you want to call it that. And while it has really good points, it never achieves its goal.

Until I watched this film, I considered Marie Antoinette and Forrest Gump to be the two worst movies I had ever seen. Brownian Movement outdoes them.

I only watched it because the description said that to moved to India, my home country. Was curious why they would do that.

The movie has barely and plot AND it makes no sense. Charlotte is married to a very attractive man, as she acknowledges. She also has a good job. Yet, she chooses to hook up with only unattractive men and we don't have a clue why.

The therapy session is superficial. We get no sense of why Max stays with her and has children with her.

About half the movie is comprised of silences. Apparently, the writer and director could not bother to write some helpful dialogue.

PS Another reviewer says that this film manages to make nudity and sex boring. Actually, the top honor for that goes to Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.