Mortem is a French experimental film directed by Eric Atlan and first screened at the Oaxaca International Film Festival in 2010 before receiving a limited theatrical release in 2012. Reminiscent of Persona and Mulholland Drive, the film follows a young woman who defies her own death.
| Mortem | |
|---|---|
_US_Poster.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Eric Atlan |
| Written by | Eric Atlan Marie-Claude Dazun |
| Starring | Daria Panchenko Diana Rudychenko Stany Coppet Hortense Gelinet Sophie Gelinet Jean-Luc Masson |
Production companies | Rainbow Melodies Artistic Finances Capson Swap Sylicone Transpalux |
| Distributed by | New Distributors Association (France) R-Squared Films (United States and Canada) Digital Media Rights (United States) BigStar.tv (United States) |
Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Reception
editMortem generally received mixed to negative reviews from critics. The Village Voice stated that "The initial scenes, thick with creep-show ambiance, promise more fulfilling madness than what actually transpires once the out-of-nowhere second guest reveals who she is."[1] The New York Times compared the film's aesthetic to that of Jean Cocteau, but gave a similarly lukewarm review as The Village Voice, stating that "Most often Mortem just lacks bite, and the dedicated leads seem at times a little slight for the staging of a struggle at eternity's edge."[2] Time Out New York awarded the film one star out of five and described it as "excruciatingly bad".[3] Slant Magazine gave the film a largely negative review, opining that the film "too readily abandons its noir framework for the sweeping meta-narrative about desire's link to thanatos, and in so doing, leaves too little room for guesswork."[4] Film Journal International stated that "This initially bewitching throwback to the French New Wave and Cocteau turns into a turgid and frequently laughable pseudo-philosophical locked-room argument between a woman and her soul."[5]
References
edit- ^ Scherstuhl, Alan (April 24, 2013). "(Hot) Soul Mounts (Hot) Body in Mortem". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 2015-06-09. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
- ^ Rapold, Nicolas (April 25, 2013). "'Mortem,' a Stylistic Visit to Cocteau's Oeuvre – The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
- ^ Rothkopf, Joshua (April 23, 2013). "Mortem: movie review (2012)". Time Out. Archived from the original on 2017-12-02. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
- ^ Bittencourt, Ela (February 23, 2012). "Film Comment Selects 2012: Mortem". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on 2013-03-06. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
- ^ "Film Review: Mortem". Film Journal International. April 29, 2013. Archived from the original on 2017-11-27. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
External links
edit- Mortem at IMDb
- Mortem at AllMovie
- Mortem at Metacritic
- Mortem at Rotten Tomatoes
 | This article related to French film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |