thelittleother Saw this last night and was blown away by it. For me it played as an intense psychological study of infidelity and addiction. The performances are taught and understated, as is the direction, with attention often focused on minute details.I've seen negative reviews of this film from two different perspectives. One is the art-house maven who feels the scenes of sexual violence are gratuitous and in poor taste; Kevin Maher's comments in the Guardian are an example. Once these reviews have had an airing they tend to attract gorehounds, some of whom (going by online reviews) had been led to expect a genre movie and were disappointed. Hence you get a lot of complaints about slow pace, unresolved endings, lack of gore etc etc.The movie does contain some quite disturbing scenes, but they serve to heighten the emotional drama that the film's really about rather than being an end in themselves. You've probably seen plenty of things more graphic than this without straying into the outer reaches of the horror genre. The sexualisation of the violence does make it more potentially upsetting, as does the psychological context Denis so delicately builds up.As other reviewers have said, this isn't supposed to be a plot-driven action movie, but the storytelling is impeccable. The ambiguous ending is absolutely logical, and people who say it "doesn't end properly" astonish me. The ending makes perfect sense in light of everything that's gone before.The back-story about the pharmaceutical company etc is pretty cheesy, but it helps to have some kind of nod towards an explanation for what's happened to the lead characters, and that's really all it is.I think this one is going to stay with me a long time and I'd definitely re-watch it.

lovefaithtruth They said this movie has two scenes that have caused women to faint...I believe them. This movie is jarring in the use of human body as a victim...the scenes rip you open.However, the movie is much more - its a symphony of disease, the diseased and the victims. Each note is an accompaniment to the large piece that the director is writing right before your eyes. As the story unravels you begin to hear the music in all its impacting purpose.And the score of the movie keeps pace - watch as the circus of human tragedy and horror dances to the tunes of the composer/director/story teller.Must not miss. Fast forward the gore if you really must. But watch this impeccable portrait of human frailty.

jzappa From what I've read of him, I do not like Vincent Gallo as a person, and he often physically repulses me. In Trouble Every Day, he does physically repulse me more than ever, yet I do not dislike him in his role. What I must say impresses me about Gallo is his ability as an actor, including performances under his own writing and direction, to play roles devoid of any of the ego that he defensively projects what I've read of his off-screen life and that are crippled by hopeless insecurity and apprehension, which he showcases without a hint of inhibition or unintended uneasiness. That is why I believe he continues to find work in movies in spite of the unbelievable amount of projects from which he was fired or walked away, the amount of people he claims to hate, and the mind-blowingly infuriated critical and audience reaction to his sophomore effort at the helm, The Brown Bunny. All-embracing filmmakers see him as one of the very few actors who has no problem baring himself for a performance as a truly pathetic character. In this film, he is honeymooning with his wife in Paris superficially in an effort to nurture their new life together, however the core reason is so that he can visit a medical clinic where studies of the human libido are undertaken. He hopes to rid himself of the bloodthirsty urges that have always plagued him.The real shock found in this film is my surprise introduction to Beatrice Dalle, who I have never before seen in a movie and near whom I hope to be wearing football gear inside the Batmobile if I ever see her in person. As a doctor's wife who is psychologically in ruins due to a mysterious overextention of her libido and is too dangerous for her husband to let her free from the bedroom during the day, she reaches as deeply into the most basic appetitive animal instincts as she is capable and plainly ensues as a nightmarish monster of berserk chaos. It was clever of writer/director Claire Denis to cast two notoriously wild atypical people of extremity in their roles.Denis's scenes of gore, which due to her focus on the morose feelings of the characters, mainly Gallo, his wife, and Dalle are intermittent and often difficult to anticipate, are extremely disturbing. During a scene where Dalle attacks a person's flesh as they lay in shock, barely able to scream, the sounds made by both Dalle and her victim are heard just barely over the glum, cheerlessly jazzy score. In the other scenes of violence, Denis's wise discerning between the appropriate placement or absence of music asserts a very moving outcome.Though I was expecting a grittier cinematographic delivery, the film is stirring, well made, and metaphorically interpretable.

GREENWOOD_96 The whole movie is strange, slow and disturbing. In a way you enter in the world of two cannibal in pain, because cannibalism is a illness (Béatrice Dalle) deliver a great performance, she very credible and tight. (Vincent Gallo) (bufallo 66) play the role of the other cannibal, with a life, he like he is under control of his animal instinct but like the girl cannibalism is a very troubling and dangerous disease and he no that fact. The movie is very animal, the character seem to be posses by instinct. The story is a bit confusing, there not much dialog in it (its a good thing) and there not a lot of thing reveled. The light, the effect, the cameras, the photograph is awesome. There a lot of inventive and in a way its refreshing to see an original movie. Don't wait.