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ALL THE FRENCH ARE WHORES
Produced by Luke Rook
Directed, Written and Edited by Matthew ReelFeaturing:
Luke Rook
Elske McCain
Matthew CopleyAre all the French really whores? I've never been to France to test the waters nor are any French crossing the Atlantic to stop on my doorstep and offer up their services. Although, after 9/11 and the Afghanistan conflict started, I did refer to the French as a bunch of worthless cheese-sniffing bitches. Regardless of what your opinion of the French are, it has about as much to with the movie as the title - nothing.
Well, at least that's my interpretation. Experimental film is open to interpretation; viewers are expected to make their own connections to figure out what the director is trying to say with his film. After watching two other films by Matthew Reel, I get the distinct impression he loves to mess with his audience. He likes to appeal to film snobbery while secretly detesting it. There's no basis for my belief, as I've never spoken to him on the subject. Hell, I'm not even sure he'd give me a straight answer if the subject ever did come up, so I'll just keep thinking that he loves to screw with people to avoid any sort of rejection regarding my hypothesis. It just makes Reel and his movie seem all the cooler.
The story, as best as I can piece together, details a man's quest for sexual satisfaction, or perhaps more specifically, sexual justification. The dvd jewelbox describes the plot simply as one man's quest to get laid, but I think that's a bit too misleading. Our hero isn't just looking for any sex, he's looking for sex from one particular individual.
The movie opens with Reel regular Luke Rook sitting in from of the television set watching porn. A woman, perhaps his wife or girlfriend, sits behind him reading a book. Her shirt is open and her gargantuan breasts are hanging free for the entire world to see. Well, the entire world minus our unnamed protagonist whom I will simply refer to as The Man. The Man shouts "fuck me," directed at The Woman. Her reply is a curt "no." The exchange is repeated.
The scene works on two levels. The first illustrates an abusive relationship when one partner has complete control thanks to either physical or mental cruelty. The abused generally suffers from low self-esteem and self-loathing. In this case The Man is made to feel that he isn't even worthy of a "pity fuck" from his partner.
There's a belief in most loving, heterosexual relationships that women have all the power. This train of thought dictates that sexual politics are based solely around the vagina. Women have it, men want it. If men are doing as expected, then they're cut off from their supply. It's as simple as that, and in my experience, pretty effective. This is the second level the opening scene operates within, and like the first level, it's all about control.
From here ATFAW becomes more abstract as The Man makes does the walk of the impotent with his head held low. Sometimes the images are given clear meaning such as when The Man is shown with The Woman superimposed over his image. On the dialog track we hear a snippet from an old educational film about how mean, vile, and self-absorbed the woman is.
Other scenes aren't given as clear explanation such as when our man loads his shoes with broken glass and continues his walk all the while rivers of blood shower from feet. My spin is that this is some sort of self-loathing self-flagellation; that the man is punishing himself for not being worthy of his lady friend's attention. There's also a sort of religious overtone that's reminiscent of Christ's walk to the crucifixion. His sexual inadequacies comprising the cross he bears. The Man looks like he could die at any moment, not so much for our sins but because he can't sin.
All our hero is looking for is someone to take care of his needs, and at one point it looks like he might get his wish, but The Woman is the sort of gal who will pour salt on the wounds she helped create, literally. At one moment it appears as if she's looking for absolution as she nurses The Man's bloody feet, at one point even appearing to wash his feet with her hair just as Mary Magdalene did Jesus. But this woman is no Mary, she's a figment of his imagination. The real Woman would just as soon slam the door on the loser's face as she would drive the dagger of rejection into his heart.
There's a great deal of anger in ATFAW, and I'm not so sure the French are the target. I don't know if Reel was the recent dumpee in a bad relationship, but his passionately embittered movie comes across more like a manifesto singing the evils of womankind than it does than a diatribe denouncing the Gauls. Reel's shooting style is similar to his last film, the mini-masterpiece THE GOAT SUCKER. Both were angry, gritty movies, but ATFAW comes across more personal. Where THE GOAT SUCKER was more about Reel's love for grindhouse and cult cinema, ATFAW reveals his own views on relationships and more tangible social issues. It's more reflective of him as a person and a filmmaker. But, that's just one man's interpretation. Reel seems like the kind of guy who would laugh off my thoughts and tell me I was full of shit.
He might be right.
The self-distributed dvd screener contained no features to review.