DEMONLOVER (Olivier Assayas, 2003) 67

Reviewed: February 2nd, 2003

Connie Nielsen -- with her long, lithe body, soothing, baby-doll voice and look of icy sophistication (possibly concealing deep hurt) -- is the perfect woman to play the insecure, alpha male's post-feminism, glass-ceiling raised, 21st century answer to the archetypal femme fatale: a corrupt businesswoman. Nielsen carries Olivier Assayas's demonlover on her slender shoulders, tracked down plush corridors by Assayas's mostly mobile camera, mysterious, game for whatever audacious devices the film has in store for her (and there are plenty). demonlover's first hour casts an entrancing spell, taking us far inside the crevices of the business side of cyberporn with a lively, sexy, spicy glee. The second half, unfortunately, becomes increasingly akin to gibberish (though the garish eroticism never fades), with (to this viewer, at least) incomprehensible plot twists and confusing detours. Assayas has the look of expensive, technology-driven, new-millennial living down pat and sometimes adopts a video game aesthetic, though not in their sense of frenzy so much (thank god), as their wholly hyper-realistic feel. This is a movie you want to live inside. Adding to the off-putting, blithe, anything-goes attitude of this French picture is the fact that Olivier has cast American actors in key roles (Gina Gershon, Chloë Sevigny; Nielsen's technically Danish and speaks six languages fluently), who -- along with some of the French actors -- inexplicably break into English whenever they feel like it. As demonlover gets progressively more outrageous, Olivier seems to be saying that sex and carnage are inseparably linked, but beyond that generality, I have no idea what he's hinting at. One thing's for sure, though: I'll never look at cyberporn quite the same way again.

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