The untamed
Sex with an X
released 18 august 18 | 98 minutes
Director amat escalante Cast ruth ramos, simone Bucio, Jesus Meza, eden Villavicencio
Ever seen a Jehovah’s Witness leaflet depicting all the animals lying side by side in harmony? Now imagine a hardcore version, with pairs of dogs, ducks and armadillos enthusiastically rutting in a crater. That’s just one of the more memorable sequences in this Mexican film reminiscent of Andrzej Zuławski’s Possession, in which a man discovers his wife has been having an affair with a tentacled monster.
Simone Bucio is Veronica, repeatedly drawn to a cabin in the country to writhe with a mysterious Lovecraftian creature. Soon she’s introducing others to its addictively atavistic delights: nurse Fabián, his sister Alejandra and her husband Ángel. The subtext – desire can be a dark, destructive force – scarcely requires spelling out, given that Ángel is secretly screwing Fabián.
Admirers of Under The Skin and Denis Villeneuve will likely respond well to this enigmatic effort, which tethers its weirdness to social realism. Its monstrous materialised metaphor is stunningly well realised. And there are effectively eerie longueurs, as the camera slowly zooms in on a darkened entrance to the woods or (a telling parallel) a female character’s crotch. Others will be frustrated by its under-cooked narrative and often detached, affectless tone. Ian Berriman
The screwing animals were shot separately on green screen, with a handler rhythmically pushing each one against a sack.