Demonlover is a 2002 film by French writer/director Olivier Assayas. The film stars Connie Nielsen, Charles Berling, Chloë Sevigny, and Gina Gershon with a musical score by Sonic Youth. It premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival,[1] although it was more widely released several months later. Reviews were decidedly mixed: the website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 47% rating.
The film defies easy placement into a single cinematic category, but it is usually considered a drama with many elements of the mystery and espionage genres. Upon its theatrical release in the United States, it was rated R for strong violence, sexual content and some language. It was released in both R-rated and unrated director's cut versions on DVD.
The film is primarily in the French language with some scenes in English and some in Japanese.
The film could be considered an example of New French Extremity.
Plot
Diane de Monx (Nielsen) is an executive trying to negotiate a deal to acquire the rights to the productions of a Japanese anime studio, which will soon include three-dimensional hentai, for the Volf Corporation. To facilitate the acquisition, she eliminates her superior, Karen (Dominique Reymond), and assumes control of her portfolio, her business partner Hervé (Berling), and her assistant Elise (Sevigny). Elise, however, despises Diane and works to frustrate her negotiations at every opportunity. Diane and Hervé travel to Japan to close the deal, and they enjoy a sexual flirtation which is unfulfilled at that time and seem to grow to like one another.
Having acquired the rights, the Volf Corporation attempts to enter into a deal for distribution with an American Internet company called Demonlover, represented by Elaine Si Gibril (Gershon). Diane, however, has actually been a spy all along for Demonlover's main competition, Mangatronics, meeting with a mysterious handler on occasion to pass along information on the Demonlover deal. Meanwhile, Diane discovers that Elaine's company is a front for a website called the Hellfire Club, an interactive torture website dealing with extreme sadomasochism broadcast in real-time; when confronted with these charges, Demonlover praises Hellfire Club but claims no ties to it whatsoever.
In order to seal the deal for Mangatronics, Diane is sent by her handler to steal data from the computer in Elaine's hotel room. Before Diane can download the information, Elaine enters the hotel room and notices Diane's presence; they struggle, eventually culminating in the suffocation of Elaine. Diane checks to see if she can make an escape, but then discovers Elaine's body is missing. Elaine, who was not dead, uses the last of her strength to club Diane over the head. Diane is knocked unconscious, and Elaine passes out to due bloodloss sustained from injuries in the struggle. When Diane awakens, she is in Elaine's hotel room, and everything is completely cleaned up -- there is no evidence of a murder, burglary, or struggle.
At this point, the narrative structure of the film more or less breaks down, although we do learn a great deal more about the characters. It is revealed that Demonlover does indeed own the Hellfire Club. It is also revealed that Elise, who it is suggested is a spy for Demonlover, actually works for Hervé, who is also likely associated with Demonlover and by extension the Hellfire Club. Hervé admits as much on a date with Diane later in the film; she sleeps with him, though it may or may not be rape, and then shoots him in the head, killing him instantly. In the end, she herself is forced into the Hellfire Club. She attempts to make an escape which fails.
The final scene takes place in an American household. A teen-aged boy logs on to the Hellfire Club website using his father's credit card. He then fills out a detailed fantasy of what he would like done to the woman on the screen, who turns out to be Diane. He then allows it to play in the background as he does his science homework. Diane looks up at the camera in her room, as if she is making an indictment on the viewer.
Cast
- Connie Nielsen - Diane de Monx
- Charles Berling - Hervé Le Millinec
- Chloë Sevigny - Elise Lipsky
- Dominique Reymond - Karen
- Jean-Baptiste Malartre - Henri-Pierre Volf
- Gina Gershon - Elaine Si Gibril
- Edwin Gerard - Edward Gomez
- Thomas M. Pollard - Avocat américain
- Abi Sakamoto - Kaori - la traductrice
- Naoko Yamazaki - Eiko
- Nao Omori - Shoji (as Nao Ohmori)
- Jean-Pierre Gos - Verkamp - Contact Diane
- Julie Brochen - Gina - Amie de Diane
- Randall Holden - Ray
- Alexandre Lachaux - Erwan - Broker #1
Alternate versions
Assayas has claimed that he trimmed at least 10 minutes of footage out of the film after its premiere at Cannes. The film was further edited for release in the United States to obtain in an R rating due to the highly explicit and sexual nature of some of the scenes. Additionally, this R-rated release featured heavy pixelization over the hentai scenes shown at the Japanese animation studio.
When the film was released on Region 1 DVD on March 16, 2004, it was in this R-rated cut. Several months later, a 2-disc "unrated director's cut" appeared. This cut removed most of the hentai pixelization (although penetration scenes are still blurred) and restored some scenes of footage from the Hellfire Club website. This cut runs 117 minutes as opposed to the R-rated's running time of 115 minutes. This version was released on Region 4 DVD with an MA15+ rating and later aired on Australian television with the equivalent AV15+ rating. As a bonus feature on the 2-disc edition, a secret code (found in the text printed on the DVD itself) can be entered to gain access to the unedited Hellfire Club footage.
Internet rumors indicated that a third DVD edition of the film would be released, this one featuring the original Cannes cut of the film and without any scenes pixelized, but this has so far failed to materialize.
Themes
One of the themes of the film is the desensitization to violent or disturbing imagery, both real and simulated, in the modern viewer. This is evident from the first scene of the movie, in which high-salaried executives are discussing a business deal on an airplane, completely unfazed by the explosions on the small video screens hanging from the ceiling. When Diane watches schoolgirl pornography in her hotel room in Japan or first checks out the Hellfire Club website, she hardly even stirs. Similar non-reactions can be seen in the characters when the two- and three-dimensional hentai animations are demoed, Elise plays video games in her bedroom, and in the final scene of the film.
Trivia
- The hentai scenes shown in the film are taken from the anime series Twin Angels.
- It has been said that the access code to unlock the 'easter egg' on the 2-disc "unrated director's cut" version is the buyer's proof of purchase number found on the upper right hand corner on the back of the DVD Box, but that has been proved to be impracticable because on screen the buyer can only select numbers between 1-9, and one can easily bump into a 0 among the bar code. However the code that has been world-wide successfully used so far is 15229 independently of one's particular proof of purchase number.
- The title is possibly derived from William Gibson's Neuromancer. In the book, 'demon lover' is used to refer to the perverted character Riviera, who was dug up to attract the "jaded 3Jane" because he was "the ultimate taste, if your taste runs that way. Demon lover. Peter." The book also associates cyberspace with hell and calls the artificial intelligence, Wintermute, a demon.
References
External links
