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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sui Generis film on an adult topic,
By A Customer
This review is from: Rape of Love (l'amour viole') [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Directed by a woman, Yannick Bellon, in France at a time when both simulated sex and raising the social consciousness about issues like rape were acceptable trends in film making, Rape of Love became a "one of a kind" film.<>First, because of the explicitness of its rape scene, where a pretty, young French nurse, Nathalie Nell in her cinematic debut, is abducted, taken to a remote rural farm shed, stripped nude, and gang raped by four men she does not know. The rape scene is long, starting with her being accosted at a local bistro, through her forced abduction along a deserted road, to her futile attempts to fight off her attackers and later to escape into the woods. (Ms. Bellon is very droll with this last touch, a standard scene in cinematic rape, done with a new twist; not to excite the viewer with more running female nudity but to emphasize the terror and desperation of the victim as she strive to escape her fate.) The rape scene is so realistic that it sets a standard that no other film has been able to match; it is either viscerally erotic or brutal and horrifying, depending on the viewers frame of mind. Because it is so believable and so well acted, without any hint of the cloying, PC compromises that mar every almost every other rape scene from any other movie, it is actually both at once, both erotic and horrible. Without being pornographic, it vividly depicts its beautiful victim being violated in every orifice, literally raped into submission and so cowed that it is days before she even considers going to the police.<> But the second thing that makes Rape of Love unique is the sophisticated way in which the film examines the impact of rape on every relationship in the life of the nurse, from her mother to her best friend to her coworkers and patients and to her fiancee, who is away on military service at the time. Every relationship in her life is called into question, forced into reexamination, as the result of her dilemma, to report her violation to the authorities or not. Her mother counsels that it is not in her interest to do so. Her best friend offers her no advice, but does not know how to restore their friendship where basic trust and self respect has been lost. Her fiancee, most of all, is robbed of his illusion that he will be able to protect her from harm and feels guilty that he was not there to prevent her sexual assault. His shame, the implications for his image of himself and his masculine honor, are obstacles to her ability to pursue legal redress and their relationship suffers. Unlike most American treatments of rape, their is no violent, bullet and blood spattered resolution. Instead, the film for the last hour is a thoughtful, adult examination of rape as a crime from a variety of angles, including brief vignettes showing the humanity of the four rapists and how they came to do their deed.<> This is a small gem of a French film that makes every other movie about rape look puerile. It is a sad commentary on the state of our film making that this film has fallen into obscurity and now is virtually impossible to find, for purchase or rental. Because of its unabashed rape scene, this feminist film has fallen into disrepute as being "exploitative" and it is now too controversial for re-release in DVD form. Today, Rape has become another soap opera morality tale, presentable only in the most PC and simplistic terms, as part of our conventional wisdom about cinematic morality and what the viewing public might be willing to shill for. Too bad; this was a very courageous and intelligent exception to our dumb-downed cultural standards of feminist ideology gone rancid. This film deserves a better fate than to be ignored as politically incorrect. And for my money, Nathalie Nell and Yannick Bellon are two of the bravest women in the history of cinema. My hat is off to them.
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Social Awareness on a Well Made Vehicle,
By "alexdiaz" (Hialeah, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rape of Love (l'amour viole') [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Nathalie Nell is one of those actors that seemed to push the right button at the right time with a movie, but just as soon as they appear they go into the European theater, never to be seen in America except for a casual cameo or walkthru role in some not so important release here. What a shame!!. I have to hunt high and low in three different languages to track down some of her earlier works. And if you want to know why, all you have to do is watch this film. Agreed, that the topic is not pretty, and the rape simulation is believable enough that turns some people's head, but there is a reason why this movie is of award caliber. Simply put, it was well done from the depth of the characters and their treatment to the way the story grows on you, and without revealing the ending you will understand that the conclusion as it should was inevitable. The is another variation of the same theme made here in America under the title of "I Spit on Your Grave!" again the heroine is traumatized but the treatment is quite different and certanly more violent. This original play is more of the emancipated tone that reflects what society was like in the 70's in Europe. I like it.
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