Sex Is Comedy (2004)

This might be an ironic film whose story is meant to portray what someone not in the film business thinks an "artistic" director is like and how they 'create' a movie. Perhaps the viewer is meant to supply something not included in the story or even hinted at: a director who is quite wealthy and is doing a vanity production which would allow the non-professionalism of it all. Or............. a wealthy parent or grandparent subsidizing the movie. (How else to explain a full professional and probable union crew being sent off the set (tick-tock, ching- ching) while the auteur figures things out. The director, obviously innocent of storyboarding or videoing important scenes between the two leading players in something called pre-production rehearsal, becomes "creative" instead of professional and that all-purpose, omniscient smile of hers, after seeing it for awhile, makes one think of a mad person, totally self-involved. Of course, some backer in real life did sign the check so one is left in wondering how Ms. Breillant was able to sell this script. "This might be an ironic film whose story, etc.", I said at the top of this review. No, it isn't and oh the overwhelming self-indulgence of it all!

Sex Is Comedy is a film based upon Breillat's personal experience in filming a sex scene. Trying to inspire a performance that meets her particular demands, Jeanne (Anna Parillaud), the director (based on Breillat) has to overcome the obstacles of her own perfectionism and the obvious animosity between her stubborn actor (Gregoire Colin) and actress (Roxane Mesquida). The Actor is more concerned with playing up to the crew members off camera than putting in a convincing performance on camera, whilst the Actress is more concerned with talking to her boyfriend on the phone than focusing on the film. Jeanne struggles throughout to create the scene as she sees it in her head, but through an oddly intimate relationship with her personal assistant, The Actor and The Actress, manages to coax the performance out of them in a strongly emotional climax.Just as frustrations arise for Jeanne, i too found myself getting a little frustrated at the lack of pace - though this, perhaps, is the point of the film; documenting the arduous nature of film-making and the difficulties that can arise in trying to artificially create an intimate scene between strangers who may well hate each other. In this respect, Sex Is Comedy is a reflection on the nature of cinema – Breillat is raising a mirror to the camera and giving us a 'behind the scenes' look at the problems which present themselves to directors, crews and casts.At times, however, this concept becomes a little confusing. The boundaries between the film within the film, the film itself and Breillat's personal experiences becomes so blurred that it was difficult to discern quite what where we find ourselves. In short, whilst the film very interestingly focuses on the idea of mise-en-abyme, i found myself spiralling into the abyss without knowing quite how to take myself out of it.

Smashing film about film-making. Shows the intense and strange relationships that can develop between directors & their actors; the manipulation and mind games; the preening egotism of performers. As in any workplace, sexuality complicates matters, but here to the nth degree as they are filming a sex scene.Absolutely fantastic performances from Gregoire Colin as the fragile, wannabe macho male lead, and - supremely - Anne Parillaud as the director's self-portrait. The image of her laughing & eating a banana at the end, having finally got what she wants out of her puppets, is pure delight.

I wasn't surprised to read a comment by the director to the effect that she made this film as an antidote to all those "making of" DVD featurettes, as that certainly struck me. I do confess that I have a penchant for "meta," but I found this film to be very accessible and entertaining, and not even in a labored, self-consciously clever way, which is certainly a bit of what you expect in a film about film-making. It is very "French" in that there are a great deal of outlandish, yet occasionally compelling theories about how film-making (and even sexuality) "works," but since the director doesn't quite play herself (using an avatar instead), we're left with a lot of choices (since I'm pretty sure she's constantly contradicting herself). Apparently Catherine Breillat specializes in hard-to-watch films, but I'd definitely say this one doesn't qualify. I really enjoyed the dialog, the balance between the cinematic and the natural, the relationships between the director character and her assistant and actor, and so on. Highly recommended.