Seduction: The Cruel Woman

Liz5.0

weirdly comforting to find out that polycules have always bred insane drama

theironcupcake4.0

"My passion is aroused by your suffering. You are totally within my control. Be mine alone. Forget everything. Adore me. Adore my flesh."In response to my last review, and in a sense a perfect counterpoint to another German tale of extremes. Monika Treut and co-director/cinematographer Elfi Mikesch ask the viewer to experiment in understanding seduction as an illusion (to quote Jean Baudrillard), entranced by images and sounds in avant-garde arrangement: numerous canted angles, curtains softly swaying in the breeze, a restless body enveloped in satin sheets, burning fires and flowing water, powder blue stockings and glittering black heels wrapped around a woman's waist, hands and feet tied down to a muddy road. Wanda (Mechthild Großmann), who looks like Keeley Hawes but has a gravelly voice amazingly identical to Shohreh Aghdashloo, believes that so-called perversions are only misunderstandings and that "to do something really surprising is art," but there is no dividing line since everything she does is a performance; she and her troupe of queer S&M artists are actors playing roles, both on and off the stage. Time will show them all which roles they were meant to play.What are the rules of seduction? What does it mean to exist in a "permanent state of desire"? Is she really cruel if she does it all with a smile?When a journalist asks Wanda whether it's better to fulfill a fantasy or only dream of it, she replies: "That depends on the fantasy." Of course, maybe it makes a difference that in this case, the client's plea is "I would like to be your toilet," but Wanda doesn't judge; she only observes and behaves (as she thinks) accordingly. She is amused by her budding relationship with Justine (Sheila McLaughlin) and contemptuous of the obsession felt by Gregor (Udo Kier), to whom Wanda is married. The paper that binds Wanda and Gregor together may be a contract outlined by obligations, but no matter how Wanda ignores or manipulates him, he persists: "Hate me. Lock me in your room. Use me or I will go crazy." Pleasure in toxicity. It's intense, like Gilda, the way that love - if that's even what it is - and loathing can overlap.If passion is natural and synonymous with happiness, a happiness that consists of feeling different passions and just as importantly living different passions, then Wanda must be happy. Or is she?Food for thought in getting out there to live, to take charge, but also to think twice about the power of choice."You are wonderful. Your hatred and your love."The Films of Udo Kier: Ranked (So Far)Body/Language

Joe3.0

A few years ago I was in Las Vegas with a Friend who dragged me to a local fetish shop that I understand is pretty well known. The owner is this old German guy who in my maybe flawed memory talked like a gravelier and slightly Americanized Udo Kier, and he just absolutely roasted me the entire time we were in his shop. "Vhich von off you iss in chahge," he asked. "Off coursse, I couldt tell zhe mowment you vhalked zhrough zhe door." Just reading me for filth the entire time, making fun of me for being shy and from Texas and uncomfortable in his little commercial sexcessory den. My point is this: I have a justified personal grudge against German perverts that might have prevented me from enjoying this as much I would have otherwise.