Anatomie de l'enfer 2004

Achy Obejas, Chicago Tribune: A ponderous but very, very explicit exploration of gender roles and fears that frequently seems like a parody of the genre. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A mere parade of shock images meant to free us from our bourgeois illusions -- and since narrative engagement appears to be one of those sins, it's impossible to find a foothold. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: In her clinical yet stately manner Breillat is largely -- though not wholly -- successful. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: No one takes the fun out of sex like Catherine Breillat. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Unless you buy the obnoxious premise that men in general, and gay men in particular, loathe women, you may find yourself thinking, 'Buck up, dear!' and concluding that this is a filmmaker whose desire to shock exceeds her capacity for interesting thought. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Breillat, as usual, leaves us gasping. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: The good news: Real-life porn star Siffredi turns out to be a terrific actor. Who knew? The bad news: The scene with the garden implement. The scene with the red cocktail. The scene with ... I can't go on. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Once again, [Breillat] gives us a man and a woman engaged in a bruising slugfest hinged to sexual difference. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Plays like porn dubbed by bitter deconstructionist theoreticians. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Breillat uses this man and woman on a bed (sometimes only he is clothed, and sometimes the two of them are naked) as a way of exploring the meaning of women's bodies from social, political and personal angles, instead of purely sensual ones. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Forget the Anatomy, this is just plain Hell. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The movie strongly suggests that to be gay is to be a misogynist, that all men wish to do violence to women and that being female is the same as being miserable. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Lisa Nesselson, Variety: Breillat is militantly in favor of personal and intellectual freedom -- and that aspect of her mission as an artist is laudable. But it's the way she expresses it on film that lends itself to giggles and guffaws. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: In her latest feature, sexual provocatrix Catherine Breillat turns a philosophical speculum on gender relations to perverse (and perversely elegant) effect. Read more