Well, there's two hours of my life I'm not going to get back.
Just what Hadzihalilovic was aiming for remains a complete mystery. Attempts to place the story in the context of a recognisable universe would just be a waste of time. All I could see was an endless string of sophomoric metaphors for growing up - butterflies emerging from chrysalids and the senior girls dancing for an unseen audience while wearing butterfly wings. It's not subtle.
Then, at the end of the movie, the oldest girls are taken to an idyllic complex with fountains and boys. Is it a strange breeding program in a dystopian future. Who cares?
Based - it says here - on a novel by Frank Wedekind (he of Pandora's Box fame), I can't tell if Hadzihalilovic's film strays from the source material. I won't be seeking out the book to find out.
Absolutely, categorically not my cup of tea - and it's certainly not in the same league as Tarkovsky's works, as some here have suggested.
Just what Hadzihalilovic was aiming for remains a complete mystery. Attempts to place the story in the context of a recognisable universe would just be a waste of time. All I could see was an endless string of sophomoric metaphors for growing up - butterflies emerging from chrysalids and the senior girls dancing for an unseen audience while wearing butterfly wings. It's not subtle.
Then, at the end of the movie, the oldest girls are taken to an idyllic complex with fountains and boys. Is it a strange breeding program in a dystopian future. Who cares?
Based - it says here - on a novel by Frank Wedekind (he of Pandora's Box fame), I can't tell if Hadzihalilovic's film strays from the source material. I won't be seeking out the book to find out.
Absolutely, categorically not my cup of tea - and it's certainly not in the same league as Tarkovsky's works, as some here have suggested.