Un couteau dans le cœur

The word giallo is thrown around in a lot of the reviews here - and not least of which in the description on MUBI - but it strikes me that Yann Gonzalez isn't necessarily all that interested in getting some shocks or indulging so much in the kill set pieces (not that he doesn't completely, with one involving lots of 360 degree pans revealing in each succession the killer approaching and then slicing away) as much as he is in pushing the colors that hes working with and mixing film stocks and, in his way, doing a meta comment on using art as a way to fight back.

When Vanessa Paradis's Anne goes to a police station to be briefly questioned about one of her actors being offed, this is then cut away to her recreating this with her own actors (Anal Fury 5 quickly becomes "Homocidal," the best pun you never thought of because why would you), and when she thinks she can draw out who may be the killer, she quickly stages a scene of sado-masochism... And gets what she is asking for (in the one scene that is truly suspenseful). What I'm trying to say here is that if you go in to Knife+Heart expecting a usual Argento or Fulci or one of those directors, you'll be not so much disappointed as thrown off.

And yes, MUBI, it is "unapologetically queer", which, you know, good. But it is also unapologetically French: the Italians had their own method of madness when it came to drawing out violent and/or surreal set pieces (one commonality is a lush and vibrant and spine-tingling score), and this has some surrealism as well, like with the black and white 16mm that feels like it's deliberately cut in from another movie.

But it also embraces and in fact demands that it be erotic and push the limits (albeit no actual genitals are seen, they might as well be), and Gonzalez is in love with color in a particular way. When we see red, it feels especially red and fiery; when we see blue, it's particularly somber and sad. And black? Well, that's the name of the game, man/woman - darkness is all around these characters, but what I also find striking is that, for the types the gay actors and some crew are, they feel like real people, which I often didn't get from Italian Giallos.

One issue though is that it is a director preferring style over substance. He loves Paradis clearly and what she can bring, but her role is thin and I never really felt for her (though she is, without spoiling, denied her moment of redemption that should come). Maybe that makes her more tragic, but I just didn't feel it, and that is what also is more French to me than anything - the sense of doomed romance and ennui which... Cool. But it's definitely more of a visual and sensory experience than one for story or real pathos.

Sitges Film Festival Review

Story, Setting, Characters, Mood etc. are all pretty cool on paper. I think the pure script of the movie is pretty awesome. Sadly the version shown at the Sitges Film Festival did not manage to put these elements together as one flowing film. It felt unfinished in many aspects. The heart is at the very right place. But the execution did not do it justice.

I have a sick sense of humor.

So it wasn't a surprise that during most of the run time for "Heart + Knife" I was laughing my-ass off. The scenario was ridiculous, but I found a lot to relate to here as a gay man, and as a B-Movie, Giallo and cheesy gay art porn lover.

This is good camp. Like an absurd mash up of early Pedro Almodovar, James Bigod, John Waters and Gregg Araki with a little Clair Denis drama for good measure.

For me, it worked. And is one of the better queer films I've seen in a while. It's refreshingly shameless and at times very funny. You wouldn't see a film like this made in the US nowadays!

Actor Nicolas Maury was a standout for me, playing the assistant to troubled porno directress Vanessa Paradis. Every time he appeared he was reliable for a good laugh, especially during the film within a film porno scenes.

So yeah, this isn't heady stuff. It's fromage.

The kind of film that goes well with wine, weed and an open mind. Film snobs and conservatives should leave their badges at the door.

Imagine "Stranger By the Lake" directed by Dario Argento or better still, Claire Denis and you're about a quarter of the way there. "Knife+Heart" is a deliciously giddy piece of gay giallo, partly "Cruising", partly "Dressed to Kill" and yet feeling totally original. Anne, (an excellent Vanessa Paradis), is a producer of gay male porn whose actors suddenly keep getting murdered in particularly nasty ways. Rather than initially shedding tears, Anne turns the killings into a movie she calls 'Homocidal'.



Naturally it's gruesome but it's also as stylish and as gorgeous as anything DePalma might have done and director Yann Gonzalez is bold enough to take the clichés of the genre, (thunderstorms, a black crow to herald the murders), and turn them on their head; you are never quite sure which way he's heading. Even the sexual make-up of his characters is never clearly defined. This is a really smart take on a genre we thought we knew inside out; once upon a time we would have called it 'post-modern' but don't let that put you off. It's set in 1979 and fans of giallo from that period will find much to enjoy here just as anyone interested in New Queer Cinema will also find much to relish...oh, and don't leave until the very last image leaves the screen

After a series of strange murders, a film director trying to finish her most recent gay porn realizes that the incidents are centered on the cast of one of her films by a masked maniac intent on seeking retribution for a past film mocking a debilitating incident he suffered and tries to stop him.

There was a lot to like with this one overall. Among the most likable factors here is the generally impressive setup that manages to work a highly effective old-school atmosphere into the universe of sleaze and depravity featured here. As there's a generally fun vibe during the film shoots that take place, whether it's the early threesome choreographed by her friend, the police station interview mock-up, or the arthouse-style recreation of the murder scene, that all combine to set up the confines of the studio system she's working within at the same time as the killer begins striking the performers of her crew. The recruitment of new performers to fill out the roles of those who are being killed off goes along rather nicely with the discovery of the origin story at play tying everything together. As well, there's also a lot of fun here with the enjoyably decadent and erotically-tinged kill scenes at play throughout here. Being fueled by the atmosphere at play here with the killer preying on victims by employing sexuality to his advantage just as freely as the performers do in their scenes with a highly-engrossing arthouse sensibility to its technical prowess, this one comes across as a rather slick and stylish effort. With some effective suspense in the opening ambush in the nightclub with the actual attack taking place in the bedroom, appearing to a drugged-out victim in the car, or the dizzying sequence in the forest during the rainstorm, the attacks in this one are quite brutal and enjoyable that are a part of this one's likability. The other good part here that has a lot to like is the overall giallo-styled format that's in play. The whole concept of the creative crew being targeted by the strange masked killer that fuels an investigation into their identity after getting nowhere with the authorities is a classic genre trope employed to good effect here. After the series of murders targeting people in her company, that she's forced to play amateur detective and investigate who's responsible for the deaths leads her to the small-town kid who died and set everything in motion with the events that angered him being replicated in her films is a setup in the style. This gives off a rather fun setup that goes alongside the rather impressive technicalities and extravagant lighting featured throughout to give this an enjoyable enough series of positives. There are a few minor drawbacks that emerge here. The main issue here is the decidedly non-giallo setup that gives away the killer's identity rather than focusing on investigating who it actually is. Instead of looking into the potential suspects since this never provides any and then discovering who they are at the very, this just flat-out says who it is and then features a confrontation with the identified figure so there's little suspense about who it is that goes against the genre's setup. There's also a lot to dislike with that final confrontation which is pretty underwhelming rather than cathartic and ends the film on a slightly sour note. It's the features that end up holding this one back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, strong sexual references, Nudity, and drug use.