Film: Amer
Release date: 31st January 2011
Certificate: 18
Running time: 90 mins
Director: Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani
Starring: Bianca Maria D'Amato, Cassandra Foret, Delphine Brual, Harry Cleven, Marie Bos
Genre: Drama/Horror/Thriller
Studio: Anchor Bay
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: France/Belgium
Amer owes a huge debt to the giallo genre, an art house slasher sub-genre from Italy that became popular in the 1970s. What made the films unique was the use of a black gloved killer stalking beautiful women and offing them in a variety of ways. Any sharp object piercing the skin of a gorgeous, shrieking Italian actress would do nicely. It is time to put on your black gloves and take out your open razor as directors Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani deliver their sensual and stylistic homage to the Italian giallo film.
The film unfolds in three distinct parts. Each part shows a different stage in the sexual evolution of Ana, the protagonist. The first part shows Ana as a child, growing up in a wonderfully gothic house, with a dead body in the basement, and a black veiled housekeeper, who may or may not be a witch.
The second part shows Ana as a teenager. This part of the film is highly sexualised as Ana has blossomed into a beautiful teenager, and becomes sexually aware of the male characters she encounters.
The third part is Ana as a woman. She returns to the house where she grew up and is stalked by a taxi driver who puts on black gloves and carries an open razor. He becomes obsessed with Ana after picking her up and driving her to the house…
Amer is a classic example of style over substance; lots and lots of style. The cinematography is absolutely stunning. It looks beautiful, and is edited creatively. There are sequences of psychedelic colour and expressionistic filtered lighting inspired by Dario Argento’s masterpiece Suspiria.
The other big success of the film is the sound, which is taken from giallo films from the 1970s and features compositions by the likes of Ennio Morricone. It is hard to think of a film that utilises sound and music so evocatively to create emotion. While the music in the film is excellent there is too much reliance upon it. Whole sequences appear to exist for no other reason than to look ‘cool’ with the music. Quentin Tarantino uses music as a similar device in his films. Interestingly, he named Amer as one of his favourite films of the year.
The key problem with the film is the complete lack of any narrative. After a great opening that really engages and creates an atmosphere of mystery and suspense, the middle section drags badly. Even beautiful photography starts to wear thin after a while, and as a viewer you find yourself longing for something tangible. The final segment, in which the classic murder takes place, feels perfunctory and forced. It is almost like the filmmakers thought, “we have to have a black gloved murder in the film,” and then tagged it on. It is executed well-enough but none of the pieces of the film really seem to fit into a cohesive whole.
Another criticism is the repetition of shots and motifs. A shot of an eye through a key hole looks good once or twice, but after five or six of the same shots, the novelty wears thin. The eye may be the window to the soul and to reading the emotions, but endless close ups soon become tedious. A homage such as this can too easily descend into a derivative rip-off, and at times, Amer falls into this trap.
In terms of acting, and there isn’t a huge amount of it, the performances are solid. Ana, at each stage, is performed well by striking and convincing actresses, and the role of the mother is performed convincingly by Bianca Maria D’Amato. Charlotte Guibeaud, the adolescent Ana, bares a striking resemblance facially to Beatrice Dalle in Betty Blue, and she communicates well without dialogue.
The direction is largely creative and fresh, if somewhat derivative in places. For example, Ana’s sexuality is evoked through the use of breathing, close up of eyes, breasts and legs, droplets of sweat on the skin and hair, and clothes blowing in the breeze. This is repeated throughout the film. It is a film that urges you to use your senses.
Amer is very much in the art house tradition, and will alienate and frustrate many fans of mainstream cinema. It would have made an amazing short film, but at ninety minutes, the concept is stretched very thinly indeed. Beautifully made, it is a treat for the eyes but, with no story to speak of, is also a strain on the patience. LM
