pro-bassoonist

(French disc is English-friendly)

Variety review (I disagree with):

Paris-set "Hell," from the semi-cult novel by teen author Lolita Pille, has bored rich youth self-medicating up a storm that includes sex and rude behavior with the drugs. But despite attractive leads, pic is let down by lensing in HD of a tale whose posh settings and costly accessories cry out for the classier patina of celluloid. Theatrical career of this March 1 release looks to be merely adequate, though results could prove heavenly on cable.

In her first major role since winning the most promising newcomer Cesar a year ago for "L'Esquive," Sara Forestier is Hell (a diminutive of Ella). She's a poor little rich girl who, at 19, screws a different guy every night. When Hell meets Andrea (Nicolas Duvauchelle), a handsome young playboy with a bad reputation, neither is sure what to do with the specter of genuine emotion, so they set their personal barometers to "self-destruct." Their cavorting involves several dozen authentic hangouts for the moneyed elite. Script contains some sharp dialogue exchanges, and Duvauchelle is quite fine, but venture is consistently undercut by its look. Cheesy score doesn't help.


Trailer:
http://www.cinemovies.fr/fiche_multi...hp?IDfilm=3356

Sara Forestier's Cesar-winning previous project:



Ciao,
Pro-B

toddly6666

PRO-BASS, don't tell me you actually liked this film?

This is one of the worst films I have ever seen. "Rich kids gone wild" and the worst, unnatural dialogue in the history of movie-making. I'm hoping the book is more interesting than this piece of crap. It's like a total waste of film. Why did they film this movie? Call it what ya want, but this is a totally bad film. What was the purpose of this story - rich kids can have problems too? Just because one has money, it doesn't bring happiness? how deep! boo hoo hoo. And what a great metaphor with the sunglasses at the end. Bravo! If this was an American film, it could have been cast with Ryan Phillipe and Juliet Lewis...If this was an Asian film, it would have been a Hsiao-hsien Hou or Wong-Kar Wai film. This film reminded me of just another example of why Asian movies get a curve or bonus points just because the film is Asian. I've seen many arty Asian films similar to HELL, but when it comes to the Asian art-film industry, critics don't care about story, acting, flow, let's just focus on the cinematography, camerawork, long shots, lighting, and what they are not. What masterpieces they are!

I'm happy to say that I traded this DVD in to a used DVD store, and got enough credit to replace it with a French PAL DVD of Roland Joffe's THE MISSION. Now that's a good movie!

pro-bassoonist

I thought it was intentionally kitsch-enough to make a point. Aside from that Mrs. Forestier's performance is obviously not on par with her bit from Games....

If you want to see a raw and gritty story about moral degradation take a look at the Italian production GAS. Disc of course is English friendly (otherwise I would not recommend it to you).

Ciao,
Pro-B