Another entry in the encyclopedia of obscure, tedious ideas. Raul Ruiz's latest mind-bending intellectual "thriller" is second-hand Borges, all structure and sign but no play: He takes the sort of story from which Luis Bunuel could have made a
masterpiece and instead forges an instrument of torment. Attorney Solange (Catherine Deneuve), who loses every case, is appointed to defend Rene (Melvil Poupaud), charged with killing his aunt Jeanne (also Deneuve). Nothing about the case is straightforward: Jeanne, a psychoanalyst who believed a
person's destiny is determined by age 5, raised Rene -- by all accounts a
petit monstre -- but also studied him, and there's...
Released:
1997
Rated:
NR
Length:
113 mins