SXSW Film Reviews

Amer

Narrative Feature, Midnighters
D: Helene Cattet, Bruno Forzani; with Cassandra Forêt, Charlotte Eugène-Guibbaud, Marie Bos, Bianca Maria D'Amato

Largely gestural, this French-language film outlines one woman's life as she experiences it during three moments: as a child (Forêt), as an adolescent (Eugène-Guibbaud), and as an adult (Bos). All three highly sexual moments place Ana in increasingly frightening situations and expose the world as the dangerous place it is. The film's sensuality and plot surface largely through action and scenery – thick with texture, exaggerated sound, and contrasting color schemes – rather than dialogue. (At the film's U.S. premiere Saturday night, co-director Helene Cattet suggested the audience think of the overall piece as events interpreted through Ana's mind.) Much of the scripted narrative occurs during Ana's childhood – leaving the viewer to deduce the details of Ana's adulthood. Amer's overlay of violence and sexual imagery effectively produces the tension found in any great horror, even if the lack of a crystallized plot seems a bit limiting.

Wednesday, March 17, 11:30pm, Ritz 2; Friday, March 19, 10:30pm, Ritz 2