La Prisonnière [Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1968]:
Redolent of the kinetic art that plays such a large role in the film and the lives of its characters. In theme, it's like the missing link between Buñuel's Belle de jour (1967) and Tsukamoto's A Snake of June (2002): as in another film about repressed female desire finding expression through sadomasochist fantasy; albeit, once again from a "male gaze" perspective. Either this or it's Clouzot's quietly unsettling take on the themes of Beauty and the Beast, where a woman falls under the spell of a monster and attempts to change him. The psychedelic climax is extraordinary cinema.
In many ways, this final work is an example of Clouzot reusing the plot points and aesthetic experimentation that he'd planned to use in his unfinished film, L'Enfer (begun in 1964 but abandoned after Clouzot suffered a heart attack three weeks into the shoot.) Élisabeth Wiener is excellent in the lead role here, backed by great support from the small ensemble, which includes Bernard Fresson, Dany Carrel and Laurent Terzieff.
Every element of the film is loaded with symbolism and significance. The apartment with the shutters down, suggesting the closed-off repression of the suburban couple soon to have their lives disrupted; the emphasis on kinetic art, which, like the film, are effectively aesthetic objects that transform reality; the motif of mirrors and refracted windows that distort the perspective of the audience to match the distorted perspective and warped outlook of the central characters; the commentary on mass produced art and the commodification of human expression; the themes of voyeurism and objectification, both in art and desire; to say nothing of the premonitions of death and transfiguration, which are hinted throughout.
