Personally, I thought this movie was as bizarre as the "Sirkus of Souls" that was featured in it. Camille (Pascale Bussieres) is a mythology teacher at a Christian college. It is a typical movie-world caricature of all things Christian, so that the college is filled with rather unlikable characters, headed by "the Reverend" (David Fox). It's homophobic, and that part of the story is filled with cliché theological lines like "love the sinner and hate the sin." Camille is also having an affair (outside marriage) with Martin (Henry Czerny) - a theology teacher who, aside from one sex scene with Camille, appears to have both the personality and passion of a fish. After Camille's dog dies (and for some reason she decides to stick the dog's body in her refrigerator) she goes to do her laundry, and at the local laundry mat meets circus performer Petra (Rachael Crawford). Immediately attracted to each other, they circle for a bit, and then become passionate lovers.
I understand that this is a kind of "finding yourself" story. Camille is breaking free of her past and discovering her real identity, etc., etc. But this was really way too weird – beginning with the decision to put the dog in the refrigerator. I also found it – shall we say – disingenuous (because that sounds much nicer than dishonest) when I discovered that in an interview a couple of years ago, writer-director Patricia Rozema flatly stated that her intention in this movie was not to "titillate" – because that's something only porn movies do, she said. Balderdash. If she wanted to avoid titillation perhaps she should have left out the three sex scenes in the movie, the one between Camille and Martin, and two others between Camille and Petra. If she wanted to avoid titillation perhaps she could have stuck with a sensual rather than a sexual portrayal of the relationship between Camille and Petra. The sensuality and even Camille's growing interest in Petra could have been portrayed quite easily without the sex (the massage scene, for example, was totally innocent and yet perhaps the most sensual scene in the entire movie.) Rozema seems to be protesting a bit too much on that point.
The movie's ending got its point across, but there was really no mystery to the movie's point. Camille falls asleep in the snow and essentially freezes to death from hypothermia, but she's revived by – among other things – lots of cuddles and snuggles from Petra and she re-awakens into a new life. Yeah. I got it. What I really didn't get was why the dog woke up after – and where the dog was going? (2/10)
I understand that this is a kind of "finding yourself" story. Camille is breaking free of her past and discovering her real identity, etc., etc. But this was really way too weird – beginning with the decision to put the dog in the refrigerator. I also found it – shall we say – disingenuous (because that sounds much nicer than dishonest) when I discovered that in an interview a couple of years ago, writer-director Patricia Rozema flatly stated that her intention in this movie was not to "titillate" – because that's something only porn movies do, she said. Balderdash. If she wanted to avoid titillation perhaps she should have left out the three sex scenes in the movie, the one between Camille and Martin, and two others between Camille and Petra. If she wanted to avoid titillation perhaps she could have stuck with a sensual rather than a sexual portrayal of the relationship between Camille and Petra. The sensuality and even Camille's growing interest in Petra could have been portrayed quite easily without the sex (the massage scene, for example, was totally innocent and yet perhaps the most sensual scene in the entire movie.) Rozema seems to be protesting a bit too much on that point.
The movie's ending got its point across, but there was really no mystery to the movie's point. Camille falls asleep in the snow and essentially freezes to death from hypothermia, but she's revived by – among other things – lots of cuddles and snuggles from Petra and she re-awakens into a new life. Yeah. I got it. What I really didn't get was why the dog woke up after – and where the dog was going? (2/10)