
A man rescues a woman from a suicide attempt in a gay nightclub. Walking the streets together, she propositions him: She'll pay him to visit her at her isolated house for four consecutive nights. There he will silently watch her. He's reluctant, but agrees. As the four nights progress, they become more intimate with each other, and a mutual fascination/revulsion develops. By the end of the four-day "contract", these two total strangers will have had a profound impact on each ... (Full plot summary below)
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A man rescues a woman from a suicide attempt in a gay nightclub. Walking the streets together, she propositions him: She'll pay him to visit her at her isolated house for four consecutive nights. There he will silently watch her. He's reluctant, but agrees. As the four nights progress, they become more intimate with each other, and a mutual fascination/revulsion develops. By the end of the four-day "contract", these two total strangers will have had a profound impact on each other.
Leave your thoughts about Anatomy of Hell.
| Village VoiceJ. HobermanAnatomy of Hell gives a feminist twist to a French literary tradition that goes back to the Marquis de Sade. It's also svelte, assured filmmaking. |
| VarietyLisa NesselsonCompact, ultra-explicit two-character pic about what transpires when a beautiful straight woman hires a handsome gay man to "look" at her is gloriously mannered, proudly pretentious and undeniably compelling. |
| SalonStephanie ZacharekThe surprise of Anatomy of Hell is that Siffredi's character is ultimately more vulnerable than the woman |
| TV Guide MagazineKen FoxIf you're feeling open-minded and a little adventurous, this chilling exploration of the gender gap from Gallic bad-girl Catherine Breillat is worth a look. |
| Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasWhat follows is graphic, but it's too cerebral and too challenging to be dismissed as pornography. |
| New York Daily NewsJami BernardThe award for hardest-to-watch movie of the year. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThere are scenes here where Breillat deliberately disgusts us, not because we are disgusted by the natural life functions of women, as she implies, but simply because The Woman does things that would make any reasonable Man, or Woman, for that matter, throw up. |
| Chicago TribuneAchy ObejasAlthough several of her (Breillat's) previous films were intriguing and provocative, this one seems styled more as raw material for satire on "Mad TV" or "Saturday Night Live." |
| New York PostV.A. MusettoRanks high on the squirm meter. But, unlike in most of her earlier work, there's no emotional payoff. |
| Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittBreillat is a smart, serious observer of sexuality's often disruptive role in human life, but this existential drama is sadly pretentious. |