Sextape review (À Genoux Les Gars): Antoine Desrosières brings this perplexing drama/ tragi-comedy revolving around sexual awakening and consent to the screen, a film screening under the Un Certain Regard sidebar here at Cannes.
Sextape review by Paul Heath, May 2018.
Sextape review
Antoine Desrosières aims his co-written script and lens at a group of young people within the French-Arabic community of France. It’s a film with some very important things to say – horrific revenge porn, homophobia and the misogynistic ‘youth of today’ are all contained within – but its tone all seems to have been lost in translation for this Anglo-cinema watcher looking on.
The story revolves around two sisters, Yasmina (Souad Arsane) and Rim (Inas Chanti), both of whom have ostensibly been brought up in a strict household – they sleep in the same bed, and it’s clear from the outset that as well as siblings, are also the best of friends, sharing pretty much everything. While seemingly limited friends, the two mix primarily with two local ‘lads’ – Majid (Mehdi Dahmane), and his best friend Salim (Sidi Mejai). It’s soon apparent that Rim is in a relationship with the outgoing pretty-boy Majid, and is looking to set-up her sister with the slightly more dorky Selim. The group clearly know one-another well, the two girls proposing sleazy scenarios to their male peers in a kebab shop in the opening scenes, the two boys replying with more outlandish offerings and outlandish, frankly more immature, sometimes misogynistic and often homophobic retorts.
Their ‘friendships’ are pushed to extreme when Yasmina finally gets with Selim, the older boy immediately pushing her into performing a sex act upon him on their first ‘date’. When Rim goes away on an educational trip to Poland, Selim blackmails Yasmina with a new ‘Sex Tape’ that he has obtained of her, pushing her sexual boundaries to the absolute limits, and often overstepping them. When Rim returns, Yasmina fails to get the support of her sister and she feels alone in a sexual, and frankly dark, new world.
Sextape review
From the outset, Sextape is a truly shocking, very unsettling piece of work, full of social issues that absolutely need to be told and presented in this form – especially now. Of course, its vile nature is its intention, though the script attempts to glitter proceedings with a baffling lighter touch.
Initially, before any of the disgraceful events that occur during the feature, I found it extremely difficult find any empathy in any of the characters. True, each of the performances from this clearly talented cast are excellent, particularly Souad Arsane’s Yasmina – and the fact that this is the culmination of months of improv workshops is another worthy plus – but the character’s initial choices in the film are difficult to comprehend, particularly in these days of the ‘woke’ generation. Sure, the music choices may be an indicator that we’re witnessing present-day issues mixed in with a sixties’ pre-sexual revolution, didn’t none of it worked for me.
That said, despite my reservations described above, and the film’s lack of any kind of positive resolution (in my mind) during the closing scenes, along with a remarkable overcoming of behaviours throughout, was a film that was met with as many cheers as it was boos upon its initial presentation here in Cannes. It’s one of those polarising features that must be discovered for one to make up their own mind, which is absolutely something that this festival is very much all about. For this viewer, although urgent and wanting it succeed with the issues it tries to highlight, Sextape was a very repetitive, overbearing, heavy-handed and supremely uncomfortable irritation.
Sex Tape review by Paul Heath, May 2018.
Sex Tape was reviewed at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
