L'amour au temps de la guerre civile

In ancient Greek tragedy the term "catharsis" was used to describe the relief and purification of the spectator, while he experienced and identified with the emotions of the tragic hero on the stage, and identification - according to Aristotle - was supposed to have a healing effect on the emotions of the spectator.

This is exactly my own experience after waching this dark and depressing film, and after being in this hell on earth for 2 hours. It's almost unbearable to watch, but somehow you get a sense of relief.

Most of the scenes are shot in the bleak and wintry streets of Montreal, where the camera is following the protagonist Alex and his fellow addicts in their endless pursuit for new sex clients and drug dealers - or in dark claustrofobic rooms where they minutely prepare the next fix to get a moment's escape from the harsh realities of life. Having sex is another way to escape, but it has become transactional, and all the sex scenes are rough and mechanical, void of tenderness and affection.

Maybe I am being overly optimistic, but I sense a tiny spark of hope in the final scene. Once again the camera is following Alex in his endless pursuit of a fix, but the streets are not empty, they are filled with people, the snow has almost vanished and it is not twilight, but broad daylight.

No doubt that repetition bit might be one of the things the movie tries to hit home. It doesn't make for an interesting movie though. After a while, I found I had to use my media player to speed up the "action". Tracking shots going on for minutes on end with somebody just walking and walking. Towards the end I was actually watching at 8x and 16x speed and could follow what was going on, if "going on" is the correct term. Nothing of value here, for me anyway. Simply no story, or, at the very best, the bare bones of one. It amazes me that they thought 120 minutes of this was a good idea. Pass.

Alex is a drug addict who sells his body for the cash to carry on his addiction. His life seems to centre around giving or having pleasure but the periods in between are anything but enchanting. He has a coterie of friends or probably associates who are all equally caught in a seemingly never ending spiral of self destruction. Like holding the tiger's tail – they are destined to never get off.

The film follows their lives and the highs (very few) and the lows (too many) of how they eek out a survival in a Canadian winter. It is hard hitting and graphic with scenes of drug taking and preparation peppered throughout. There is also simulated sex and it is not the stuff that could be classed as 'tasteful'.

This is not an easy watch either and I felt that some of the scenes could have ended sooner, but this was probably an artistic choice by the director to emphasise the emptiness of what the protagonists are actually doing. This is a gay themed film too in that Alex is gay but it is quite universal in the themes it addresses. At 120 minutes and in French this is one for the not so squeamish and for those who like their films to be challenging.

Profoundly pointless but a gut-wrenching scraping of the bottom of a garbage can! I kept watching thinking that eventually something would let us see what the reason was for just putting this trash on film. This is nothing but raw Sadism and extreme Masochism! Just one unending plunge into depravity after another. The visual state of the characters alone was enough to make a statue vomit! They were as physically slimy as were their souls. There was no attempt at even the smallest degree of relief. The obvious feeling of inevitable doom made me feel like a self-imposed voyeur. This film should never have been made!

I saw this movie about a week ago and it kind of stuck with me. Anyone who has spent time with junkies and crackheads know the furtive endless cycle of obliteration that makes up their lives. But that didn't really matter with this film. I didn't feel like their lives were shameful and I didn't waste any time hoping anyone would get better. What struck me is that there was no judgment at all about the characters or what they were doing. The camera simply followed them around, usually in a very close claustrophobic manner that added a weird edge to each scene. It was usually impossible to figure out what the interior rooms were like, as though everything took place in a couple of corners or against a wall. A lot of the initial scenes took place in a car which conveyed a strong feeling of having no escape or being lost. The sex was unexciting and the drugs were constant. It was almost like watching animals in the wild, tracking their movements and behavior. Really a beautiful film unless you have strong opinions about gays or drug addicts, in which case you might want to watch something else.