Choses secrètes
Linked with the 'New French Extremity' films that've emerged over the last couple of decades (see also, Irreversible, Haute Tension, Martyrs, etc.), this went under the radar a bit, perhaps because, in comparison with those films it isn't actually that extreme - graphically anyway. It's essentially an erotic thriller; albeit one with shades of De Sade and Bataille to give it that philosophical air of transgression (which might ultimately be more central to the NFE 'movement' than any graphic displays of torture, rape, etc.) Anyway, in terms of recent trends in cinema, I do find this one probably the most interesting, even if the films themselves can be pretty hit and miss. I also think the more graphic end will eventually hit a dead end once it reaches (as it inevitably must) that final layer of taboo represented by actual, un-simulated violence (snuff) or sex involving children: areas that it simply can't touch. I suppose that's a problem whenever anything defines itself through graphic extremity: that it eventually reaches its legally defined limit. In that sense, because Choses secrètes emphasises extremity at the level of ideas rather than their graphic display, it may point to a more sustainable future for these kinds of films.