Bloody, sumptuous feast more style than storytelling
Let the Corpses Tan
(out of 4) Starring Elina Lowensohn and Stephane Ferrara. Co-written and directed by Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani. 92 minutes. Opens Friday at TIFF Bell Lightbox. STC
Set in a secluded mountain retreat amidst some ruins, Let the
Corpses Tan soon becomes a crowded affair.
A cluttered one at that, in the hands of filmmakers Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani, who bring an excess of visual style and imagery to a story that might have been better served by greater loyalty to narrative coherence.
Still, it’s easy to see why some cineastes are going to enjoy this unconventional heist tale, full of violence, double crosses and good old-fashioned karmic justice, based on a 1970s French pulp fiction novel.
The artistic Madame Luce (Elina Lowensohn) gets her kicks painting, smoking cigars and enjoying a life of leisure with some dear friends when a bloodthirsty gang of robbers joins the party, along with a woman, her son and his nanny.
When two motorcycle cops show up, things go from bad to worse as the clock clicks through a hot sunny day, turns into night and, one by one, the cast of characters begins biting the dust.
Lowensohn is wonderfully wry in the role of Luce, and her exceedingly quirky personality — she scarcely seems to notice or care as mayhem surrounds her — sets the tone for the film, which is often dreamlike and frequently difficult to follow.
There isn’t a whole lot of time or interest in character development on the parts of Cattet and Forzani, who rely instead on camerawork to dazzle and mystify.
So expect a lot of fast shots and lingering close-ups of eyes and lips, and occasional forays into illusory asides tinted in various shades that suggest a drug-induced state.
So yes, Let the Corpses Tan is more style than straightforward storytelling. But oh, what style, with music influenced by Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, and characters and imagery that fall somewhere between David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino.
So savour this bloody and sumptuous visual feast but don’t expect to fathom its elusive list of ingredients.