June 5, 2013

Cannes strikes blow against anti-gay marriage marchers by honoring Letter-to-Penthouse-style sex fantasy

You might almost think this looks like some practicing
heterosexuals riding the Great Gay Gravy Train of 2013
From the New York Times on the back story behind the surprise awarding of the top prize at the Cannes film festival to Blue Is the Warmest Color, a little known movie featuring endless simulated sex scenes between two young, beautiful actresses:
The Cannes prize was given to Mr. Kechiche just hours after masses of French demonstrators poured into the streets of Paris to protest France’s new law allowing same-sex marriage and adoption. While it would be impossible to say whether the protests helped determine the prize at Cannes, the coincidence of the timing was noted. 
Le Monde called the festival judges’ decision on the day of the protests “an act of cultural politics that does not lack courage.” The weekly magazine Les InRockuptibles said that the festival “intervened with a perfect sense of timing.” 
And Mr. Kechiche told Reuters, “Everyone who is against same-sex marriage or love between two people of the same sex must see the film.” ...
On the Riviera in May, the critics gushed. The graphic sexual encounters were so magnificent, The Guardian wrote, that “they make the sex in famous movies like, say, ‘Last Tango in Paris,’ look supercilious and dated.” 
The Hollywood Reporter said the film would surely “raise eyebrows with its showstopping scenes of nonsimulated [sic] female copulation.” 
Baz Bamigboye, a critic from The Daily Mail, meanwhile, confessed that he blushed like he had never blushed before, calling the sex scenes exceptionally beautiful. “And I’m not just saying that because I’m a bloke,” he added. 
But now the film, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, is the subject of a multifaceted debate here and abroad that turns on two questions: How to represent the female body and lesbian sex on screen? And who has the right, or at least the authority, to create those images? The debate was set off when Julie Maroh, the 27-year-old author of “Le Bleu Est une Couleur Chaude,” the comic book-novel on which the film is based, criticized the film’s portrayal of lesbian sex as uninformed, unconvincing and pornographic. 
“This was what was missing on the set: lesbians,” she wrote in an English translation of a French “communiqué” posted on her blog after the film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. 
Noting that the director and actresses are “all straight, unless proven otherwise,” she said that with few exceptions, the film struck her as “a brutal and surgical display, exuberant and cold, of so-called lesbian sex, which turned into porn.” 

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Back in 1977, this guy in the dormroom down the hall wrote a Letter to Penthouse that had all the makings of an award-winning screenplay in 2013. It started out, "I'm a student at a small Midwestern liberal arts college and I never believed any of these Letters to Penthouse, until one night the doorbell rang and ..."

If I could remember his name, I'd tell him to dust it off and get an agent pronto. He might win an Oscar for his contribution to the War on Homophobia.

35 comments:

  1. I have come to loathe film makers and all those who support the industry, except you, of course, Steve.

    It has to be evident that those who control mass communication have the upper hand in setting the agenda and then achieving it, no matter how dysgenic it is to those who buy that product.

    So, since Muslims reject this Western senselessness, I guess this means they will out produce us and their genes will win.

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  2. The lead actress in that movie, Lea Seydoux, is a descendant of the Schlumberger brothers, founders of Schlumberger, and of other very rich people. One of her grandfathers was the president of Pathé.

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  3. OK, this is another of her ancestors: the 22nd prime minister of France.

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  4. Auntie Analogue6/5/13, 8:30 PM


    Something tells me that straight guys who see this film will (cough-cough) grasp why Cannes awarded it the Golden Palm.

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  5. But now the film, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, is the subject of a multifaceted debate here and abroad that turns on two questions: How to represent the female body and lesbian sex on screen?

    There is no such thing as lesbian "sex".

    The word "sex" describes a procreative activity - honeybees moving the pollen from the stamen of the male flower over to the stigma of the female flower.

    What lesbians do isn't sex: It's un-sex, or anti-sex.

    The very fact that so many people refer to it as "sex" reflects the Frankfurt School's near-complete triumph over language itself [not to mention the common sense which is supposed to inform language].

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  6. Lesbians are actually gross and rarely have sex. I think that was what Steve was implying.

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  7. >I have come to loathe film makers<

    Outside of a few non-commercial mavericks whom no one has ever heard of, the industry is indeed deeply depraved. I can't watch or listen to any popular entertainment.

    The paradox is that so much intelligence goes into pushing the retard view of life.

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  8. The lead actress in that movie, Lea Seydoux, is a descendant of the Schlumberger brothers, founders of Schlumberger....

    What is that supposed to mean? Drilling? Wine? What?

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  9. This movie sounds like the most sincere and artistic attempt to cash in on lesbian porn since t.A.T.u., the russian nymphette pop-duo. I'm sure it's a dynamite film and all, having won the coveted Palme d'Rose award. Now guys can watch some titilating smut, and claim that it's uplifting and gay-friendly.

    I thought that lesbian-chic peaked about ten years ago. Is it just hitting France now? And it was based on a comic book? Is every movie now based on a comic book, even supposedly avant-garde French films?

    Who were the judges? Woody Allen and Roman Polansky?

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  10. On the Riviera in May, the critics gushed. The graphic sexual encounters were so magnificent, The Guardian wrote, that “they make the sex in famous movies like, say, ‘Last Tango in Paris,’ look supercilious and dated.”



    Sounds like something from The Onion. Reality is getting nuttier than satire.

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  11. Promoters of homosexuality at times really make no qualms about how fictional depictions are supposed to help win people over to their side- from Biden praising "Will and Grace" to this guy, they genuinely don't seem to mind coming out and saying it's legitimate for fantasy to influence people in this manner.

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  12. >Sounds like something from The Onion.

    Any stupid event reported in journalistic diction is situation comedy.

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  13. I have come to loathe film makers and all those who support the industry, except you, of course, Steve.

    I have come to loathe all Hollywood film makers.

    Then again, until the RIAA and MPAA find a way to stop digital copyright infringement, I get to witness the edifying spectacle of Hollywood film-makers gnashing their teeth in frustration.

    This does not do much to correct the anti-realist propaganda of "lesbian chic," but it's something to be grateful for.

    Perhaps in the future, all the films ever made will be available for free on the Internet, and no big-budget films will be made because there will be absolutely no profit in copyrighted works.

    One solution is to turn movies into micro-budget affairs like the Star Wreck series:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wreck:_In_the_Pirkinning

    An alternate solution is just to give up on live-action film and do everything with computer graphics:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy:_The_Spirits_Withinsame taonac


    Depending on the power of open-source graphics engines, these two possibilities might have some overlap.

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  14. "What is that supposed to mean? Drilling? Wine? What?"

    Schlumberger is an oil field services company.

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  15. Including a photo of Baz Bamigboye, any photo, would give this post a fuller sheen of victory

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  16. Dr Van Nostrand6/5/13, 11:55 PM

    “they make the sex in famous movies like, say, ‘Last Tango in Paris,’ look supercilious and dated.”

    I thought this trend comparing a another film to one your were reviewing was always in poor taste and also wasnt it done in the 90s?

    I remember Leon The Professional for instance advertized as "Makes Speed seem a walk to your grandmas house"

    Such comparisions always struck me as nasty and tacky rather than clever and incisive.

    And Last Tango in Paris? Really? Nice of reviewer to wander in from the 1970s with is bell bottoms,side burns and large sunglasses.
    There have been tons of (mainstream) movies far more depraved than it from since '72.

    I should know- I saw them!


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  17. Dr. VN, now I remember that "Makes-'Speed'-like-grandma's-house" tagline. But I thought it went with another, less-artiste release, something more like an action movie. I actually fell asleep during a rental of "Leon"

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  18. "Perhaps in the future, all the films ever made will be available for free on the Internet, and no big-budget films will be made because there will be absolutely no profit in copyrighted works."

    If I ran for office one of my main campaign promises would be to reform the copyright laws and make it so they only last for 10 years for media.

    The life of the author + 70 years is just ridiculous. I'm sure when Disney has their movies come up for public domain, congress will mysteriously want to increase the copyright laws again.

    But anyway, on topic.

    Every single pure lesbian I've met in real life is a mannish, unattractive beast.

    The lesbians in movies and porn are just a fantasy. In real life they look nothing like that.

    But it makes sense that lesbians are more masculine and gay men are more feminine. It's just one of those things that happens to be correlated.





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  19. Well who wants to see real lesbian sex, a couple of plain, hairy armpitted women going it? You see the first one and you think and then you see the second one and realise .

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  20. Dr Van Nostrand6/6/13, 4:56 AM


    Dr. VN, now I remember that "Makes-'Speed'-like-grandma's-house" tagline. But I thought it went with another, less-artiste release, something more like an action movie. I actually fell asleep during a rental of "Leon"

    Maxwell, indeed it was Leon and yes it is odd to compare it to Speed as this astute review notes

    http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/besson-reno-portman-oldman-the-professional-15-years-later/

    I didn't see The Professional in the movie theater. I watched it on VHS. It starred some french guy I'd never heard of and a Punky Brewster-like little girl. The cover box for the movie read, "Makes Speed look like a slow ride to grandma's house!" I'm not sure why Entertainment Time-Out (owner of the brain-dead quote) felt the need to compare the two movies, since they are nothing alike but there it was."


    I liked Luc Besson even if all his stories are rather the same, a violent man/woman child who justs a normal life and wants to be saved by someone/save someone.

    The movie of his I liked the most was rather silly The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-sec




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  21. Jonathan Silber6/6/13, 7:15 AM

    Here's hoping Obamacare covers treatment for trauma induced by witnessing bona fide lesbian sex.

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  22. Here's hoping Obamacare covers treatment for trauma induced by witnessing bona fide lesbian sex.

    Heh heh heh, you said 'bone.'

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  23. Back in 1977, this guy in the dormroom down the hall wrote a Letter to Penthouse that had all the makings of an award-winning screenplay in 2013. It started out, "I'm a student at a small Midwestern liberal arts college and I never believed any of these Letters to Penthouse, until one night the doorbell rang and ..."

    If I could remember his name, I'd tell him to dust it off and get an agent pronto. He might win an Oscar for his contribution to the War on Homophobia.


    I don't know, Steve. See how your next fund raising drive goes before you decide to scrounge around in the attic...

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  24. While it would be more realistic, a film featuring sex scenes between two lesbians who look like Moe of the Three Stooges would not garner the same accolades.

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  25. Schlumberger money also funded the activities wealthy John and Dominique de Menil, who did a lot to bring modernist high culture in the visual arts (Rothko Chapel, Menil Collection) to Houston.

    Interestingly the Menils had a strongly Catholic tendency in their interests and tastes, as opposed to the more Jewish predominance in New York.

    Later their heirs turned to supporting Minimalism and Earth Art through the Dia Center / Foundation, with much less Catholic interest.

    As a Rice alum, I'd like to hear Steve's take on the Menils and Schlumberger.

    http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1998/06/08/1998_06_08_052_TNY_LIBRY_000015712

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  26. Well, yes, quite a lot of art and entertainment is propagandistic. In To Kill a Mockingbird the girl gets beaten up by a left-hander. Her father is left-handed and Tom's left arm is paralyzed. Obvious enough for everyone?

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  27. Truer to life would be:
    > This movie with effeminate gay men
    > Brokeback Mountain with hairy lesbians

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  28. I went to the Magritte exhibition they sponsored in 1976 in the Rice Museum (a couple of Quonset metal huts in the football stadium parking lot). It was great.

    I never got Rothko, so I couldn't appropriately appreciate their Rothko chapel.

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  29. So, "gay marriage" is rejected by the people (voters) in what is it? 30+ States where it has been on the ballot?
    And yet... voila! " Will of the People" matters? Please. "Will & Grace" is what matters. Biden was correct in his bestowing of the Rulers accolades.

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  30. If it had been about homo men, the title should have been Brown Is the Warmest Color.

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  31. Anonymous(@6/5/13, 8:40 PM) said...
    "'But now the film, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, is the subject of a multifaceted debate here and abroad that turns on two questions: How to represent the female body and lesbian sex on screen?'
    There is no such thing as lesbian "sex".
    The word "sex" describes a procreative activity - honeybees moving the pollen from the stamen of the male flower over to the stigma of the female flower."

    Bill Clinton, is that you?

    Dr Van Nostrand said..
    "I didn't see The Professional in the movie theater. I watched it on VHS. It starred some french guy I'd never heard of and a Punky Brewster-like little girl."

    That was Natalie Portman, who was 11 when they started shooting. She's been in a few other movies since then... ;-)

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  32. make the sex in famous movies like, say, ‘Last Tango in Paris,’ look supercilious and dated

    What the hell is supercilious sex when its at home?

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  33. Anon 12:24:

    Sex scenes and romantic scenes in movies are very different from real life, and one way they're different is that the participants are much fitter and better looking on average. Real lesbian sex looks more like Margaret Cho and Rosie O'Donnel, real straight sex looks more like Danny DaVito and Rhea Perlman. Most people don't look like actors, they're plainer, uglier, fatter. And the scenes aren't set up so nicely, so the two ugly people are getting it on in a messy bed in a trailer somewhere, with a TV showing Jerry Springer on in the background. .

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  34. Every single pure lesbian I've met in real life is a mannish, unattractive beast.

    The lesbians in movies and porn are just a fantasy. In real life they look nothing like that.



    I've known some bicurious girls who were very attractive. I suspect that they weren't really into the lesbian thing - they just liked getting a lot of male attention.

    I know one lesbian who is very feminine, very pretty, and sometimes kind. Unfortunately, she's serious about being a lesbian, not bisexual.

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