Exterminating Angels

Walking into the theatre, I really didn’t know what to expect from this film. Featuring in the “Forbidden Pleasures” section of the festival, I was sure that I was going to get a fair bit of nudity and adult themes. Hell, to be perfectly honest, I was even expecting to see a fair bit of soft-core porn. Well, with that in mind, this film didn’t disappoint. There was a lot of nudity, adult themes, and soft-core porn – although in some cases it was pushing its “soft” classification. This is a bizarre, yet extremely entertaining film about a trusting French director who is trying to make a film exploring all aspects of female pleasure. While he amazingly finds actresses to star in his movie (although many people do refuse), what he gets in return is more than just naughty acts caught on celluloid, rather a very complicated multi-way relationship. If you don’t like watching young, very desirable, girls playing with themselves under the table of a fancy restaurant, this film is not for you. If you’re not attracted by beautifully filmed sapphic lovers in a hotel corridor, this film is not for you either. But this film is honestly not just an excuse for showing off a lot of breasts and lesbian love scenes. It’s a dark and intense tale examining how we can become completely blinded by our passions instead of using our head and the advice received from our trusted friends. In the case of this film, the director chooses to ignore the wise words from his loving wife and dead grandmother, and the consequences are ghastly. Right throughout the film there is a lot of strange voiceovers, with dialogue such as “their blue desert is only a circle ringed by hell”. There is also several characters that hide in the shadows; athletic female angels, who describe themselves as “not angels anymore, but not witches yet either”, looking over the events that unfold. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what to make of this film. It’s seriously weird. But it’s very interesting to watch. The director is basically moulding and manipulating these girls, to make his movie come to life, despite claiming that he only has the very best intentions. It’s going to be one of those films that you’re either going to love or hate – I don’t think there is any middle ground. Personally, I found this film really unique, and I’ll admit, having a lot of beautiful women making love to each other didn’t hurt, but there was more to this film than just that.