Magdalena and Maria are two twin sisters who were separated at birth and know nothing of the other’s existence. Maria runs away from the boarding school in which she was brought up and finds work as a cabaret performer in the cafés of Marseilles. Magdalena lives with her adopted parents and works in an art gallery. The two sisters are joined by an invisible bond which draws them towards the same tragic conclusion. Director Werner Schroeter has acquired a reputation as an experimentalist filmmaker, hailed by some as an underrated genius, reviled by others for being a peddler of self-indulgent kitsch. Deux is arguably Schroeter’s most ambitious, unsettling and repulsive work to date. The director certainly wastes no time in alienating his audience; from the first ten minutes of the film it is clear this is not going to be an easy ride. The narrative cuts haphazardly between seemingly unconnected events, alternating between realism and stylised fantasy dream sequences, periodically shocking the spectator with graphic images of lesbian sex and a woman being slowly disembowelled. Having several actors playing multiple parts only adds to the sense of artifice and utter confusion, which is a pity as there is manifestly a lot of great acting talent on show – not least of which is Isabelle Huppert. The film’s sheer relentless grotesqueness and self-indulgence is so extreme, so unbridled, so stomach-churningly provocative, that it is hard to take any of it seriously.
影片改编自比利时艺术史学家Michael Francis Gibson的小说,是一部以文艺复兴时代为背景的惊悚片,围绕尼德兰著名画家博鲁盖尔的名作《受难之路》而展开。《磨坊与十字架》是一堂伪装成电影的的艺术史课,它的最初公开亮相,不是在电影院也不是在电影节,而是在卢浮宫 、纽约大都会艺术馆这样的场所。影片将人们带回十六世纪的荷兰,博鲁盖尔在创作《受难之路》时借助一个圣经故事来影射当时西班牙统治者的残忍以及尼德兰人民的反抗。莱彻·玛祖斯基将艺术史研究同电影CGI、3D技术结合起来,试图还原画家在创作这幅作品时所处的社会环境以及当时的思想、心境。站在一部艺术品之前的心神激荡,不正是让我们所有人晕眩地以为是所谓创作冲动么?值得一提的是,勃鲁盖尔的另一名作《雪中猎人》刺激瑞典导演罗伊·安德森创作下一部作品,名字很长的《树梢上沉思存在的鸟儿》,这部作品有望在明年戛纳或者威尼斯电影节亮相。