{"id":7441,"date":"2009-06-15T16:39:10","date_gmt":"2009-06-15T23:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7441"},"modified":"2020-12-27T16:13:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-27T23:13:20","slug":"femmes-fatales-aka-calmos-1976","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7441","title":{"rendered":"Femmes Fatales (1976)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;As soon as my eyes are closed, they barge in.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Femmes-Fatales-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Femmes-Fatales-Poster-227x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"227\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-60038\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Femmes-Fatales-Poster-227x300.png 227w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Femmes-Fatales-Poster-773x1024.png 773w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Femmes-Fatales-Poster-97x128.png 97w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Femmes-Fatales-Poster-768x1017.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Femmes-Fatales-Poster-204x270.png 204w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Femmes-Fatales-Poster.png 827w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 227px) 100vw, 227px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA gynecologist (Jean-Pierre Marielle) and a pimp (Jean Rochefort) trying to flee from the world of women find themselves pursued by a militant army of sex-crazed females.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Battle-of-the-Sexes<\/li>\n<li>Bertrand Blier Films<\/li>\n<li>French Films<\/li>\n<li>Living Nightmare<\/li>\n<li>Satires and Spoofs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nIn his review of this mind-bending &#8220;cult comedy&#8221; (a.k.a. <em>Calmos<\/em>) by director Bertrand Blier, Peary&#8217;s first wry comment is that it &#8220;would probably cause more arguments if anyone could figure out what it&#8217;s about.&#8221; He argues that the film has a &#8220;promising beginning&#8221;, but then &#8220;takes an odd, foolish turn, moving out of a rudely funny, believable realm&#8230; into a confusing surreal fantasy&#8221;. He takes issue with Blier&#8217;s decision to have the men &#8220;become sexual objects to be used and humiliated&#8221; by women who &#8220;become the aggressors [and] think that men are only good for one thing&#8221;, and notes that Blier still &#8220;treats his actresses in the old-fashioned way, as impersonal sexual entities&#8221;. What Peary fails to recognize, however, is that Blier (as usual) is simply taking his bizarrely conceived scenario to the ultimate limit, without concern for either reality or propriety. This is, after all, a film about &#8220;misogynistic, gross, irresponsible, superior&#8221; men, and it&#8217;s their warped world view we&#8217;re seeing on display here; everything that happens &#8212; a true living nightmare &#8212; is told from their perspective, and while it may not be &#8220;believable&#8221; by any stretch of the imagination, it&#8217;s far from confusing. <\/p>\n<p>Instead, scene after scene will simply leave you gaping in wonderment at the sheer audacity of Blier&#8217;s vision: Marielle (who keeps loaves of bread in his desk drawer at work, and accepts gifts of pate from his patients) finding his pre-appointment snack ruined by a gorgeous female client loudly scratching her genitalia; Marielle comforting Rochefort (the closest they get to homoerotic love) as he wakes up from a nightmare about women (&#8220;They bug me even in my sleep!&#8221;); Marielle and Rochefort gorging on rich food and wine with some local priests who have temporarily taken them under their wing; Brigitte Fossey (Marielle&#8217;s beautiful wife) trying in vain to tempt him into bed; and countless others. The final sequence &#8212; which goes above and beyond the film&#8217;s prior level of perversity &#8212; is guaranteed to leave you floored, if not mildly queasy (which, I imagine, may have been Blier&#8217;s intent). Ultimately, <em>Femmes Fatales<\/em> is a film which needs to be seen to be believed; and while it certainly won&#8217;t be for all tastes, it&#8217;s unique enough to be must-see viewing at least once for all film fanatics. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jean-Pierre Marielle as Paul Dufour<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/femmes-fatales-marielle.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/femmes-fatales-marielle.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"272\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7446\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Jean Rochefort as Albert<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/femmes-fatales-rochefort.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/femmes-fatales-rochefort.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"272\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7445\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Brigitte Fossey as Marielle&#8217;s wife<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/femmes-fatales-fossey.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/femmes-fatales-fossey.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"272\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7450\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Countless memorable sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/femmes-fatales-memorable.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/femmes-fatales-memorable.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"272\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7448\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Claude Renoir&#8217;s vibrant cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/femmes-fatales-cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/femmes-fatales-cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"272\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7464\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Georges Delerue&#8217;s jazzy score<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a most unique and entertaining film.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Foreign Gem<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0074524\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.nytimes.com\/movie\/review?_r=1&#038;res=9405E5DD1638E334BC4C51DFBF66838C669EDE\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;As soon as my eyes are closed, they barge in.&#8221; Synopsis: A gynecologist (Jean-Pierre Marielle) and a pimp (Jean Rochefort) trying to flee from the world of women find themselves pursued by a militant army of sex-crazed females. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Battle-of-the-Sexes Bertrand Blier Films French Films Living Nightmare Satires and Spoofs Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: In his review of this mind-bending &#8220;cult comedy&#8221; (a.k.a. Calmos) by director Bertrand Blier, Peary&#8217;s first wry comment is that it &#8220;would&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7441\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7441"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60042,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7441\/revisions\/60042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}