De la guerre

Very difficult to attach a numerical score to this film. Thematically related to THE IDIOTS and BEAU TRAVAIL, but also APOCALYPSE NOW and FIGHT CLUB. My thought: there is a sense in which this film exists in relation to music in something like the way BEAU TRAVAIL exists in relation to dance. This would be an attempt at saying something about both the similarities and the differences between the two movies.

A bit less formally evolved than House of Tolerance, as well as less thought-provoking in any coherent sense (it's, like, an allegory... for something?), but it's definitely to Bonello's credit that he manages to pull off what comes dangerously close to being an artier version of The Beach. It helps that this might be my favorite Amalric performance apart from Kings and Queen, and it never hurts to have Elina Lowensohn around either. I can't deny that it has a certain hypnotic charm in any case.