For 15 years Bertrand Bonello has been one of the most unique voices in (modern) French film. His work has been a regular fixture at Cannes (he won the international critics week prize in 2001 for The Pornographer), Cahier Du Cinema loves him, and he's worked with everyone from French legends like Jean Pierre Leaud & Aurore Clement (something we'll be getting in to later) to modern day French favorites like Mathieu Amalric, Lea Seydoux & Laurant Lucas. His name is also commonly associated with other forward-thinking modern French directors like Gaspar Noe, Marina De Van & Bruno Dumont (all PINNLAND EMPIRE favorites) as part of the now-defunct "New French Extremity" scene.
Content-wise, his body of work has touched on everything from pornography (The Pornographer) and the occult (On War), to the struggles & setbacks that come along with being a filmmaker (The Pornographer)
Bertrand Bonello's work has been written about quite a bit on PINNLAND EMPIRE (he was also kind enough to answer a few brief questions for the site a few years ago) so it's only right that his entire body of works gets the "Cinema Of..." treatment.
(although Bertrand Bonello did not direct Portrait Of The Artist, I'll still be including that film in this piece given Bonello is not only the star of the film, but he essentially plays a fictionalized version of himself)
Enjoy...
ART APPRECIATION
Whether it's something directed by (
Saint Laurent, The Pornographer, House Of Tolerance, etc) or starring Bertrand (
Portrait Of The Artist), you'd be hard-pressed to find one of his films that isn't surrounded by art. While clothing design is certainly an art in its own right, Saint Laurent (Bertrand's Yves Saint Laurent biopic) is filled with tons of sculptures and pop art. Large paintings are displayed on the walls all throughout
House Of Tolerance &
Tiresia, and
Portrait Of The Artist is essentially about art appreciation...
In
Tiresia our main character starts out a transgendered woman and by the end of the film she (reluctantly) transitions back in to a man. "The Jewess" (
House Of Tolerance) is one of the most in-demand women in her brothel but after being disfigured, her personality (along with her face) changes quite drastically. Bertrand's short film on Cindy Sherman shows her chameleon-like/transformative work, and, although not represented with a picture, Jean-Pierre Leaud's character in
The Pornographer is trying to change and be a better father to his son...
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| Tiresia |
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| House Of Tolerance |
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| Cindy, The Doll Is Mine |
THE HUMAN BODY
Bertrand doesn't shy away from exploring the (sometimes) naked human body. And it isn't always based around sex either (that's something we'll get in to shortly). Bertrand Bonello is genuinely fascinated by the curves of women (the thighs, breasts, butts, etc) just as much as he is fascinated by the abs & chests on his male actors...
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| Portrait Of The Artist |
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| Tiresia |
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| Tiresia |
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| Saint Laurent |
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| On War |
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| House Of Tolerance |
EROTICISM
Bertrand Bonello doesn't shy away from sex. Sometimes the sexual acts in his movies are real (in The Pornographer he used real pornographic actors & actresses). The sex in his work isn't bland or boring either. Bertrand delves in to the taboos of pornography (The Pornographer) and the freaky fetishized preferences that some humans have (House Of Tolerance shows all the weird sexual preferences that both men & women sometimes have when there's no judgment).
But there's also a darker side...
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| Tiresia |
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| House Of Tolerance |
In House Of Tolerance we see Johns that get off on harming prostitutes while the basic plot to Tiresia is about a sexually confused & repressed man kidnapping and torturing a Trans prostitute.
The sex and implications of sex in Antoine Barraud's
Portrait Of The Artist are pretty kinky as well (in one scene we get half naked men, women & trans women on the verge of having a casual orgy while later on in the film we see the character Bertrand photographing a man in women's underwear with the implication that things could get very weird).
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| The Pornographer |
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| The Pornographer |
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| Tiresia |
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| Tiresia |
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| House Of Tolerance |
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| Portrait Of The Artist |
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| Portrait Of The Artist |
A CELEBRATION OF WOMANHOOD & FEMININITY
This category really speaks for itself. I mean...just look at all the women (below) that he casts in his films.
Because there
is depth in all of his work and not a bunch of fluff, I feel it's completely fine to celebrate the attractive women in his movies. And while most women do fit that standard slim figured physique we've come to expect from most actresses, movies like
House Of Tolerance show his appreciation for "non-traditional" beauty as well...
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| On War |
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| House Of Tolerance |
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| Nocturama |
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| On War |
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| The Pornographer |
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| The Pornographer |
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| Tiresia |
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| Saint Laurent |
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| My New Picture |
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BERTRAND BONELLO
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