French frissons

Catherine Breillat is an audacious filmmaker with a bee in her formidable bonnet about sex which, in common with a certain type of French intellectual, translates into women versus men. Here, she adapts her novel Pornocratie to the screen with what one can only describe as poetic vehemence.

The tale is of a young woman prevented from committing suicide in a gay club (what is she doing there?) by a homosexual who finds women repugnant. She doesn't say thank you but instead challenges him to visit her. "I want to be watched where I am unwatchable," she says. If I were to describe in detail what then happens, you might quickly flee from this page.

It is pretty tough even for an experienced critic, used to sexual frissonsto watch. But it is a not inconsiderable piece of film-making. The woman is played by Amira Casar who, fortunately for her, uses a body double at the more gynaecological moments. The man is acted by Rocco Siffredi, a former porn star of whom you could say he knows what to do when asked. The result is a physical and metaphysical battle of the sexes that's more about hatred, fear and repugnance than sex.

Casar says that Breillat is the true heir to Pasolini. If so, it is the Pasolini of the deeply disturbing Sado rather than The Gospel According to St Matthew, one of the greatest, most human films ever

Anatomy Of Hell (Anatomie De L'Enfer)
Cert: cert18