Demonlover (2002)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Olivier Assayas

Writer:

Olivier Assayas (writer)

Release Date:

6 November 2002 (France)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Two corporations compete for illicit 3D manga pornography, sending spies to infiltrate each other's operations.

Plot Keywords:

Briefcase | Business Deal | Industrial Espionage | Internet | Torture

Awards:

3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Connie Nielsen	...	Diane de Monx
Charles Berling	...	Hervé Le Millinec
Chloë Sevigny	...	Elise Lipsky
Dominique Reymond	...	Karen
Jean-Baptiste Malartre	...	Henri-Pierre Volf
Gina Gershon	...	Elaine Si Gibril
Edwin Gerard	...	Edward Gomez
Thomas M. Pollard	...	Avocat américain
Abi Sakamoto	...	Kaori - la traductrice
Naoko Yamazaki	...	Eiko
Nao Omori	...	Shoji (as Nao Ohmori)
Jean-Pierre Gos	...	Verkamp - Contact Diane
Julie Brochen	...	Gina - Amie de Diane
Randall Holden	...	Ray
Alexandre Lachaux	...	Erwan - Broker #1

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, sexual content and some language.

Runtime:

129 min | USA:117 min (unrated version) | Italy:121 min | USA:115 min (R-rated version)

Country:

France

Language:

English | French | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Australia:M (TV rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-15 | Germany:18 | Italy:VM18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | Japan:R-18

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Citizen Films

Trivia:

The prêt-a-porter featured is from a Fred Sathal collection and is credited along the movie and video game extracts featured.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Making of 'Demonlover' (2003) (V)

Ghosts In the Machine

One of the great things about the French is their interest and promotion of THEORY. Sometimes when theory infiltrates Art in too direct a manner the results can be boring or pretentious. In the case of demonlover neither is the case yet the end product doesn't measure up to its individual parts which are brilliant. Suffice it to say this is not a movie for the squeamish or for fans of the character building qualities of a life in business. What the film shows is how much of a construct modern identity is; how much it depends on role, on possessions, on our relationship to the pecking order of whatever tribe we find ourselves in. The film also suggests that the price we pay for hanging on to this fragile identity is nothing less than the seeds of our destruction - a doorway in fact to depression, madness and perversion. Lastly, the film is a devastating look at the way big media corporations hide their involvement in anti-social projects under the veneer of 'just business' or, if they went to the Harvard Business School, 'shareholder value'. Its a rare thing to make an interesting movie with NO sympathetic characters but demonlover achieves this. Many complaints have been launched against the incoherent plot, but the fact is that the plot is not incoherent at all, it just lacks credibility which is a different matter altogether. But no matter: its still an interesting take on a very real set of contemporary circumstances. The performances are also quite compelling which suggests that no matter how dubious a character's morality is, if she's beautiful we (men, that is) will hang on her every word.