The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears (France: L’étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps), 2013.
Written and Directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani.
Starring Klaus Tange, Ursula Bedena, Joe Koener and Birgit Yew.
SYNOPSIS:
Following on from the disappearance of his wife, a man enters a web of intrigue as he tries to uncover her whereabouts. Traversing the labyrinthine halls of his apartment building, he encounters inhabitants whose tales of sensuality and sadism play out before him.
From this synopsis you may think that you know what this film is all about but believe me, you really don’t.
The plot itself is actually quite simple and in other hands would have played out like a number of other horror thrillers and would inevitably bore you to tears. In this film however, everything is done in a very different way.
From the offset, this film is a complete sensory overload. Using extremely vivid images, music and camera cuts, you’re bombarded with operatic violence and perverse eroticism unlike anything you’ve seen before.
We watch on as characters see themselves get murdered; men and women have dark and disturbing intercourse as well as a predator without a name or motive. While this may sound incredibly strange, it’s not even the half of it.
The whole thing plays out like an extended dream sequence and channels everything that was great and peculiar about Giallo horror movies of old. Vivid colours, a funky soundtrack and tonal shifts between sex and murder so frequent that everything becomes a wonderful blur.
The best thing about this film in my opinion is how we’re presented with what’s going on on-screen. Instead of most horror films where we watch on as a character is tormented, this film puts us right in the mind of the character as he slowly loses touch with everything that is going on around him – something that I haven’t seen done anywhere this well before.
Of course, a film that is this vivid and dreamlike does have its drawbacks. Most notable is the fact that the plot isn’t the primary concern and at times you find yourself wondering just what the hell is going on. Further to this, you have no idea who most of the characters are or what their involvement is in the story. Generally this isn’t the biggest of problems as it enhances the dreamlike fever of the film, however it does make you lose track of things every now and again.
Overall it is quite hard to truly describe this film as it is unlike almost every other picture of the last decade and telling you too much might ruin the experience for you.
All that can be said is that even if you like your horrors a little by the numbers you might want to try this as it’s truly a visual and auditory horror feast.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Ozzy Armstrong is a Stargate and Rocky superfan. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published October 10, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
