Tristesse des anthropophages (1966) Poster

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6/10
Provocative surreal short with lot of scat reference
samxxxul29 September 2022
To be honest this film popped up when looking up acting titles of Legendary Jean Rollin. So i had no clue what the movie was about, not even the genre. IMDB claims it is horror short film but in my opinion it is wrapped up in the trappings of an arthouse format with absurdism all over. It is not horror with traditional genre troupes but it is quite unnerving stuff like how it tries hard to make a statement about religion and society juxtaposing scatophagy (rofl) with a little Christianity theme as allegory. But I'm genuinely not sure what the hell any of that was. It suddenly turns into a musical similar to Bela Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) opening dance. A man on ladder sings as the men join in and it picks tempo, the lines are cheesy like this one here "love is done with cheeks, blah blah blah." But i will appreciate the novelty of director Jean-Denis Bonan for even thinking to make something like this. So absurd, that the short film shows guy taking turns to produce excrement so it will be served to the customers in the restaurant. We have Bonnet, the French guy who narrates his story on how he got involved in this turd eating establishment. He is abused by the establishment who don't like him for coming back as resurrection is completely forbidden.

Also, this short film is one of the most weird opening and closing credits i've ever seen. It reminded me of Fernando Arrabal's Long Live Death (1971). Director chooses to include the title imprinted on naked bodies withstands in close-ups. It unbelievably sets off all the ugliness or weirdness to follow. Definitely not a sublime turd like the film states and i don't think I can recommend this short film everyone, maybe watch few parts of Hotel Splendide (2000).
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