Demonlover (2002)
Starring Connie Nielsen, Charles Berling, and Chloë Sevigny.
Directed by Oliver Assayas.
Kilgore rates it: 6 (out of 10)
IMDb rates it: 5.5 (out of 10)

A great movie to watch if you harbor insufficient hatred for the human race, Demonlover describes the violent world of corporate espionage. The corporations here are fighting over Demonlover, a website offering, among other perversions, Japanese pornographic animation for pedophiles. Those possessing the secret codes can access Hellfireclub, an interactive torture site where patrons can enter their fantasies and watch kidnapped women getting tortured to order.

This is strong stuff, yet the detached corporate characters discuss their wares as if they were selling vegetable soup or staplers. The best scenes show men and women in suits arguing over contract clauses to protect themselves from child-porn prosecution, or frowning thoughtfully at animation of young girls getting raped by eels. Director Assayas shows torture scenes from Hellfireclub -- most are flashed on the screen quickly or shown in extreme closeup so as to disturb rather than sicken. (He does include one extended shot of a woman chained to an electrified bed.) The timeline and plotline starts fracturing during the second half, and I would have to watch Demonlover again to figure out what really happens. But I don't think I will.

+posted by Lawrence @ 4/29/2004 11:46:00 AM