[Film Review] Ban This Sick Filth Presents: Moral Outrage Demonlover (2002)

For whatever reason, erotic thrillers seem to have largely gone the way of the dinosaurs since their popularity in the early 90s. They have been sorely undervalued, considered smutty and tasteless, as if that’s a bad thing, and have overall been relegated to the Razzie’s Hall of Shame. But if one takes the time to explore erotic thrillers, they will find tightly written, beautifully shot, campily acted gems such as Basic Instinct, Showgirls, The Last Seduction, and other wildly fun fare. These films abandon the moral high ground, they present femme fatales that embrace their sexuality and deviance, and address the weakness that so many men have for indulging in the darkness their suburban existences so often disallow. So, in short, they’re awesome.

In 2002 director Olivier Assayas (revered writer/director of Personal Shopper and Clouds of Sils Maria) secured his name within the annals of the New French Extremity with the indulgent and twisted neo-noir thriller Demonlover. The film sits comfortably within the NFE due to its thematic elements dealing strongly in sexuality, pornography, and snuff films, but is surprisingly tame in its imagery and lacks some of the more graphic content that fans of the movement are accustomed to. While the film deals in the world of anime pornography, the sexual action within the anime is pixelated to obscure what is happening on the screen, which isn’t a terrible loss as not everyone wants to watch tentacle porn in its full graphic glory. But even regular porn that the main character watches is blurred out, an interesting choice for a film categorized as “extreme.” This choice by Assayas was made to secure an R-rating, but it’s possible the Director’s Cut contains the more controversial content. 

The story follows Diane de Monx (Connie Nielsen), a woman working for a French company to secure the sole rights of a Japanese anime studio that creates popular anime pornography. The company is in competition with an American company called Demonlover vying for the same studio, represented by Elaine Si Gibril (the lusciously camp Gina Gershon). The plot reveals hidden motivations and double agents, with Diane going deeper down the rabbit hole as a darker faction comes into play when Demonlover is suspected of being involved in the sadomasochistic dark-web site Hellfire Club. 

Demonlover is a visually stimulating display of all that neo-noir erotic thrillers have to offer. Chloë Sevigny joins the cast of well-utilized actresses as an unassuming secretary with ulterior motives and further cements her iconic status as an indie goddess unafraid to show up in films with troubling and taboo themes. As it so often happens with erotic thrillers, the best roles go to the women, while the men remain pawns in the games they themselves have rigged. 

It’s no secret that sexuality is a theme that some viewers find difficult to absorb in any form, but Demonlover explores the complexities of female interaction and tests the limits of a slow burn, all while keeping the audience on their toes through navigating different countries, languages, and pushing the boundaries of what makes sense with a plot that has more twists than a dark canyon road. 

Demonlover is a part of Arrow Video’s Ban This Sick Filth Presents: Moral Outrage.

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