Calvaire Review

Review of Calvaire (2004) by screenqueeen: 👍 4/5

14/100

kind of incredible. i love how this uses visual language to convey sets of already muddled and confused identities, in some cases. what i found that i see as more profound is the way this argues that the masculine appropriation of buried guilt, hatred, lust and redemption onto a feminine identity never requires validation for those feelings but similar and identical paths to clear these from a feminine psyche is an impossible Sisyphean undertaking*.

no amount of absorbing penance will absolve the need to pile more on and in the case of the final sequence, all that built-up redirected and weaponized sin catches up to at least one of them until he is literally swallowed up by a manifestation of it (in the middle of an innocent, serene snowy landscape). even the victim cannot let the illusion of betrayal be shattered. in the final moments of an abuser's existence, his version of events must be honored as a receipt of truth under interrogation. because it will be interrogated. the death of an abuser only begets more heads to pop up in its place. no hope. merry christmas.

*something i noticed that was a main thread in OBSESSION yet covered with much less care or consideration.