A new life

August 26, 2009 | No comments

Program : Retrospective : Philippe Grandrieux

A NOVA VIDA | A NEW LIFE | LA VIE NOUVELLE
France, 2002, 102 min.
Original version with Portuguese subtitles

Fragments of stories involving prostitution, betrayal and obsession break through the incandescent beauty of this film as an aesthetic object, “A New Life” is a bold and radical statement about cinema itself: its function, its use, its possibilities. Reviled by critics at the time of its release, it has been subsequently defended as one of the most important French films in recent times. Every harrowing frame enraptures and terrifies in equal measure. The climax is shot on a heat-sensitive camera. The film explores all the ways in which we fail to understand the world: sleep, dream, fantasy, trance, delirium, and the general confusion of bodies and perceptions.