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"Fear of being obscene makes one obscene," says the tyrannical protagonist in Catherine Breillat’s semi-autobiographical film about a director trying to film a sex scene. By that dictum, Breillat’s œuvre ¾ with its fearless, full-frontal approach to all things sexual ¾ is as obscene as a chair. In Scènes intimes, manipulative and aggressive director Jeanne (Anne Parillaud) struggles to get her young actors (Roxane Mesquida and Grégoire Colin) to give a convincing performance despite a rigid distaste for each other. Jeanne engages in perverse power plays with both actors, alternately seducing and repulsing the responses she wants from them. Her female lead is cold and aloof, and the male prances around the set with a prosthetic hard-on while Jeanne coddles and abuses them. It ends up being the cinematic equivalent of a one-night stand: it’s impossible to feel any attachment to the characters; you spend your time wondering whether anything’s ever going to happen and anticipating the climax; and when the climax finally, finally comes, it’s not quite worth the wait. The only relief results from the knowledge that you won’t wake up with these people in your bed. In French with English subtitles. (92 minutes) At the Kendall Square.
By Nina MacLaughlin
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