Eros
Eros: noun
1. Greek Mythology. The god of love, son of Aphrodite.
2. often eros Creative, often sexual yearning, love, or desire: “The new playful eros means that impulses and modes from other spheres enter the relations between men and women” (Herbert Gold).
3a. Psychiatry. Sexual drive; libido.
3b. The sum of all instincts for self-preservation.
This is what is being explored in the film of the same name (the middle two definitions anyway), an anthology of three vignettes, each by a different filmmaker, each filmmaker an acclaimed master, each achieving a different degree of success. The thing is, I’ve yet to read a review of this film that didn’t have the exact order of quality these three films right on the money. Strangely enough, they appear in that order- from best to worst- the same way in the movie. Each one will be reviewed separately, with the knowledge that none dovetail into the next one (the three are intercut with mood music and rich, impressionist paintings).
The first is entitled “The Hand,” and is written-directed by Wong-Kar Wai, best known for his acclaimed “In the Mood for Love” and “Chungking Express.” The segment stars the sensual and sensational Gong Li (“Raise the Red Lantern,” “Farewell My Concubine”) as a prostitute who charges a young tailor (Chang Chen) to design her glamorous dresses. His inspiration will be her, she says, and she solidifies that by what she does to him with the body part mentioned in the title. This is only my second experience with Wong-Kar Wai (“Chungking Express” was the first), and it is clear he is a master of mood and emotion with this atmospheric and erotic story, which features no nudity and no explicit sex- though the tailor hears the prostitute’s lovemaking the first time he meets her from the other room- but evokes feelings of powerful sensuality and desire through its’ images and the rich performances by Li and Chen. “The Hand” ranks with the best films about sex- Bunuel’s “Belle de Jour,” Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut”- in that it depends more on the viewer’s imagination than explicit visuals to evoke feelings of sensuality, and trusts it’s story enough to bring the viewer on the erotic ride as well. It is a masterpiece. Grade for “The Hand”- A+
A vastly different- but no less interesting- approach to eroticism is taken in Steven Soderbergh’s “Equilibrium.” In it, a 1950s salesman (played by Robert Downey Jr. in a terrific performance) is in his psychiatrist’s office telling his shrink (the great Alan Arkin deserves to be remembered at Oscar time) about this sexual fantasy he’s been having. But the psychiatrist can’t settle down long enough to listen. Instead, he just does his own thing- including trying to get the attention of someone outside of his window- while occasionally giving the obligatory response to his patient. The ending’s more than a little ambiguous than I’d like, but the substance in the sequence is intelligent, quirky, and thought-provoking thanks to Soderbergh’s thoughtful writing and Downey Jr. and Arkin’s go-for-broke acting. Now, if Soderbergh would bring this type of filmmaking back to his features after the sometimes-limp “Ocean’s Twelve.” Grade for “Equilibrium”- A-
Last- and tragically, least- comes “The Dangerous Thread of Things,” from the Italian legend Michelangelo Antonioni (whose bold films I’ve seen more clips from than actually seen (only this and 1966’s “Blow Up” have been seen by me)). Knowing what I know now about Antonioni’s debilitated state (a stroke in the ’80s left him unable to speak or write) from a review of “Eros,” I’m willing to cut him some slack for the vastly inferior quality of “Things,” but not even a movie fan’s worst nightmares about this sequence dull the impact of this disappointing finale. In the segment, a couple (Christopher Buchholz and Regina Nemni) are visiting a lakeside resort and discussing their problems when they see a young woman (Luisa Ranieri), whom the husband takes a notice of, and the wife- either out of jealousy or simply not caring to fight for their marriage anymore- tells him where she lives. He goes there, and has sex with her. Later, we see the young woman- then the wife (though not together)- dancing naked on the beach. The end. For the guys, this segment will be alluring because of the appealing nudity of the woman, but there’s nothing else to latch onto- the worst kind of erotic cinema and nudity (which is why I avoid porn and could barely sit through “Showgirls”). Antonioni is know as a filmmaker willing- and more than capable- of digging a few feet below the service of the story to find the true meaning at the heart of it, no matter how provocative and unsettling. Alas, it seems that after watching “Things” (Grade- F), that gift as a storyteller has finally left him at the age of 93.
Thankfully, as Wong Kar-Wai and Steven Soderbergh demonstrate in their bold and brilliant contributions to “Eros,” it looks as though that gift has been passed on to a new generation of filmmakers not afraid of jumping without a safety net. For that, I suppose “Eros” as a whole has merit.
