I think it's all about laughter. The monster inside us must be mocked. I don't believe in trance and all that. When they try to find something in themselves. I believe in deception. Sometimes you have to create something. And there's often nothing inside. Nothing at all. But I have to make it happen. I get paid for it.
Justine Trier is a director who trains hard to create stories in roughly the same pathetics, with the same toolkit or similar, repeating elements. This is neither good nor bad, but interesting as an object of study. "Seduction" is the transition point from "In Bed with Victoria" to "Anatomy of Fall," which won the Palme d'Or in 2023. The main role is again Virginia Ether, in one of the secondary ones - Sandra Hüller, who will move to the next work. Before returning to the courts and lawyers, Trier will again touch on the paths of writing (with the impossibility of subordination from someone else’s biography) and psychotherapeutic conversations. Tragicomedy will not go anywhere, but will give a bit of primacy to the thriller. True, unhappy ladies and verbose conflicts will remain ironically in all three cases.
Despite the fact that the trailer promises to dissect the collision of a love triangle, the title hides a hint to the correct interpretation. “Seduction”, if we reject the miner’s work of localizers, in the correct translation – “Sybil”. This is a reference to the true chronicle of a woman who had multiple split personality, as well as the heroine of the book by journalist Flora Rita Schreiber “Syville” plus a couple of adaptations. That is, even before viewing the light comes out decoding that the key mix will be more complex and sophisticated, because the attempt to replace your life with the life of another person does not depart from the vector of the given anomaly. Both are two sides of a bitter medal. The two poles of loss of unity of the "I".
However, the complexity appears not only in the form of an abundance of triggers, complexly tied to the current Sybil and her patient Margot Vasilis. Sex, mother, abortion, alcoholism, creative throwing, acts of interaction with relatives, men, colleagues, wards - everything is a little like a salad. Unusually affecting perception, the technique consists in an equally chopped montage of material consisting of scraps, jumping from space to space, from topic to topic, somewhere devoid of logical connections, partly playing on nerves, partly on feelings. It is as if we find ourselves in the center of a riotous head, where among the scraps of memory and anxiety swarm confused thoughts, flashes, pictures, and there is no approach to adequately grouping them – only to sink deeper. This or that scene tends to suddenly break off, and continue fragmentary, under a voice-over story stretched through the images; even when the narrative does not sin with nonlinearity, it lurks on the occasion of a fragmented emotional state and ignores the acquisition of the usual narrative harmony. Justine, collecting a puzzle of individual style, will continue to put experiments on it in “Anatomy of the Fall” – organically, not sharply. And in the meantime, her dialogue with the viewer in the way of presentation is very, very specific than not everyone will like.
Three does not explain . Doesn't tell the obvious truth. It associates . Therefore, the chaotic heap of situations exists despite the expectation of integrity and against the will (or even under the handle with it) gives rise to a special magic, palpable due to the charm and naturalness of the actor's caste. So, the essence is not in understanding, but in immersion, which for the audience is periodically inseparable from understanding, but here to the last is revealed in contradiction with it. The hysterical instability of the characters is constantly fueled by a series of spontaneous actions and reactions clinging to each other. And if at some times you stay in a flat position, then at others you sit like on needles. The brightest episodes in the expanded context look like the shooting of the “film in the film”. The turns of the camera, the thwarted process, the professional (smelling of nauseating toxicity) explanations, the unique camera trick with the detached fixing of the image from the playback, manipulations on the court, screams, quarrels, disputes - it is impossible not to notice with what accuracy the script intricacies are reflected inside no less, if not more intricate form. The nomination in Cannes is given, right, for such courage in interpreting and illustrating a confused, not the most cute, potentially uncomfortable plot, in addition to using a doll function.
It's a terrible unbalanced picture. Not erotic cat-and-mouse, not art-house drama, not love story, not a painful excursion into psychoanalysis and behind the scenes of the industry. It's all together. There are so many originals here that at some point you can get very tired and confused. Even get mad. Becoming a patient, calculating patriot of such experiments is something that should help. The passions that plague screen-crazy (or rather, "crazy") people express a seemingly causeless obsession with the disorder of their own being. Aggression alternates with intercourse, depressive bubbling, uncertainty neither in the future nor in today’s trust in anyone. They either fuck or hate or cry. An endless funnel.
A movie about intimacy. In fact, the movie is about her absence from everyone and the obsessive search going through a painful break in contact with themselves.
The culmination takes place in isolation from the main scene, in exotic island scenery: now the long-suffering epic is divided into “before” and “after”. At this stage, the prevailing discourse that drives Sybil into the meat grinder of human relations is finally elected, and the problems of integration into an alien society, excessive blurring of borders, and loss of landmarks turn into exhausting consequences that stretch to the end. As if the whole first half of the session is an airstrip, and then a brief contact with the clouds and a deep, explosive peak: psychotherapy has the opposite effect. The art world, built on lies and hypocrisy, populated by mating “chameleons”, wearing masks and too devoted to the “dream factory”, makes a wide break in the one who split his “I” into other people, without recognizing its benefits for himself. And it’s no secret to anyone: when you fall apart, sooner or later it’s time to gather back. Unless, of course, you find all your pieces.
"Seduction" is an insanely traumatic, but terribly eloquent spectacle. Justine Trier mercilessly and unbearably exposes bodies and souls, pushes them in a burning cauldron and with the diligence of a paleontologist picks up wounds that do not have time to heal. Reality is rigidly copulating with fiction; fiction gently covers up the oxygen of reality - but trapped will not come out the same. Despite the unraveled along and across the hassle, giving the endurance of a juicy pendel, this is a rather underrated project that deserves attention. At least, against the background of primitive, stamped films, it stands out with scrupulous thoughtfulness, filigree maneuvering at the intersection of genres and sophisticated beauty, available exclusively in the optics of the French look.
8 out of 10
Recently, a couple of films with the main actresses of this movie have been viewed. If not for this, then this movie would not look now, probably, because his rating is low.
Women. So little information about them. Let’s get more information about them in the movies. Nice girls, women more precisely. But the production itself sometimes looks depressingly amateurish, something in it constantly does not glue and somehow jumps too from one to another indiscriminately.
In the tape, something from the category of endless conversations with the therapist happens. There's a perisexual theme. Some social problems seem to be solved, but somehow stupid. Or the whole point is that the lives of the main characters are stupid, so the cinema is the same. And even more confusing is the fact that different events go abruptly and in the wrong order... flashbacks of memories cut the main plot.
And then. And then begins some sort of sura romantic. It's so mixed up. Cinema is real and in-film cinema. Romance of the past and novel of the present. And it all ends up in a movie book. And where is fiction, where is truth... who knows it? Maybe it's all true.
The film tells the story of a psychotherapist named Sybil who abandons her regular clients to write a book. However, annoying clients do not stop bothering her, and here I note the first drawback of the film that caught my eye: I did not see Sybil help my patients solve their problems, nor even empathy and empathy for their problems. The main character with a stone face made it clear that she, by and large, does not care about the result of her professional activities. In this case, it is not clear what causes such an influx of customers who literally can not live without Sybil and her advice. In fact, there is no advice.
The second disadvantage of the film is the way the love scenes are filmed... from the outside you can see that the lovers are pretending, not having sex. Not professionally played, in my opinion. I am not talking about sensuality and the impulse of passions, there is no mention of it here.
Now the third, and most important, disadvantage: what is this film about? That her life is a novel she can rewrite, change at any time? Really? Because we didn’t know that we could influence our lives and change our “novel”.
All the sufferings of the main character seem far-fetched and sucked out of the finger... although, perhaps, we, the proletarians from Russia, do not understand the "problems of the white people"? Now, being a man of subtle mental organization, I have not comprehended the love sufferings of our brain correction. What was she missing? Life is a success, it would seem, live and rejoice. The topic is not disclosed, and “Seduction” can be safely renamed into... I don’t even know what. For the film is about nothing.
This film, a participant in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, surprised critics and touched the hearts of the audience with the talented dramatic play of the famous Frenchwoman Virginie Ether (' Love is not by age', 'Impossible Love' etc.).
On the screen is not the usual image of a written beauty and appetizing blonde, but... an extraordinary, strong woman with feminist notes, who dared to become the mistress of her fate.
Sybil, the name of the main character, with young nails not wanting to depend on life circumstances, resolutely overcome the family ailment - craving for alcohol - and became the author of the bestseller.
She is now a recognized medical therapist.
Success and well-paid popularity among customers have strengthened it from now on and always manage fate at its discretion.
The heroine returns to the literary path and begins to work on a big novel. At the same time, not caring at all about what will become of her patients, abandoned by her halfway to recovery.
The same instinct of faith worked with her exclusivity when she showed perseverance and left the conceived child (she is strong, she can!), although her lover begged not to: 'I helped you become a writer, now it's my turn to take place myself! '.
While working on the book, the idea was born to use the events of the developing tragedy of her former client, a young actress Margot, who was in dire need of the help of a psychiatrist and therefore completely in her power. Sybil shamelessly and illegally recorded them ' soul-saving' conversations.
': My life is a novel. I want to copy it! I can create, amaze, give birth! It all depends on me!'
This is how our heroine lived, pretending and deceiving people who trusted her in the name of satisfying their goals and whims.
Of course, when we're young, we all want to grab God by the beard. But you have to pay for everything.
Late she realized how lonely she was without her only love, a victim of her ambitions!
She had to go through the terrible childhood question of her grown-up daughter, where her father is, why he left and why they did it, if they are not together now. . .
The picture is strong ensemble of famous actors - Gaspar Houlier (' It's Only the End of the World';), Adele Exarchopoulos (' The Life of Adele'; ) Sandra Hüller (' Tony Erdman'; ), Niels Schneider (' Impossible Love' ) led by director Justine Trieu, a master of women's film stories.
The second title of this tape, associated with the name of Freud, is very justified, including eloquent scenes of passionate, sincere sex!
It's recommended to watch. Wise, subtle, interesting project.
Psychotherapist Sybil decides to finish his practice and write a book. It would seem quite normal desire for a person who is frankly tired of daily consultations. Moreover, with her experience, a sufficient number of stories have surely accumulated, which can be used in creativity without being tied to specific personalities. Already at the end of her psychotherapeutic career, she gets as a client a young girl Margot, whose story captivates Sybil.
Justine Trier’s film is aimed at the female part of the audience, as it will be difficult for men to find something attractive in this picture for themselves. No, of course there are guys who love stories like Wild Angel or something like that. “Seduction” is the story of a woman’s life with her various problems, love affairs, depressive episodes – in general, a fairly standard story, which various writers publish in packs, and our filmmakers cook five pieces a day.
The only difference between “Seduction” and any such Russian film is that it is in the manner inherent in the French, shot beautifully and tasty. Magnificent views of the sea coast, chic evening dresses and zero pathosity and a touch of narcissism mixed with the chic of the rich (we like to show chic, shine and beauty). The French even banal and beaten history can present tasty, so that the viewer received at least a visual orgasm.
But for the rest, “Seduction” is a fairly fresh and ordinary story about a woman who spent her entire working life studying others, helping her patients, but at the same time did not think about herself. I think that's what Justine Trier was trying to bring to the audience. Sybil, played by Virginie Ether (she has already starred with Trie in the film In Bed with Victoria), appears to be a mature woman who is much less successful in solving her own personal problems than the problems of her patients. You have to give in to your weaknesses.
Surely Sybil had a lot of clients who could become prototypes of the heroes of her book, but for some reason the attention of the former therapist is focused on Margot, this girl, enjoys such an increased interest from Sybil. Here, the directors would be nice to show why Sybil was so interested in Margot. Maybe Sybil saw in Margot herself the model of twenty years ago. Maybe Sybil dreamed of the same life as Margot - beautiful in terms of her creative path, maybe she dreamed of meeting the same man as the hero of Gaspar Ulliel? Maybe she's just jealous of the girl? Margot’s passion in my opinion is not obvious and should have been more clearly drawn.
The film positioning itself as a love melodrama, in fact, turns out to be such, conducting the story of Sybil from beginning to end, showing what the fascination with others can lead to.
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.
Having given up ... on my back, on my back, on my simplicity, on my back.
Think of me in the spring.
And in the summer night think of me,
Think of me at night in autumn.
And in the winter night think of me.
Let me not be there with you, but somewhere outside.
as far away as in another country,
on a long and cool sheet
Rest as if in the sea on your back.
With a soft, slow wave,
I am like the sea, all alone.
The poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko inspired the picture. And not the lyricism of the poet’s love verses, but the choir’s chants reflected the diversity of French sexual emancipation. Leonida Filatova, involuntarily remembered, from the "Forgotten Melody for Flute" & #39; (1987), where he as the curator of amateur groups travels through the Houses of Culture. After listening to the female ' inspiration' from a stage of twenty-five to thirty voices, when asked if she liked it, she answers confusedly: How can you not like it? On the back, on the sheet, about me.
Here we go, I want to clap and whistle enthusiastically. No, not directing. No, not acting. No, not the intricate plot component of the film. Actress. Virginie Aether is so hot in the furnace that sweat is smeared on the forehead from the candor of the scenes. Then one pose will take, then the other for the convenience of the partner ' portray '. It will sit on the background of the fireplace rider, then right on the toilet table will spread the charms lustfully.
Dear viewer! Where are we? In the boudoir of the Egyptian queen? Or in the backyards of Paris? Are we involved in this, too? Or is it just for her one and only loved one? Why the one you love? Lovers. Isn't there one here? Not alone. And plus, we, a million-strong audience, drool. . .
I did not expect that the female director could offer such a candid film to the public. Is it provocative? I guess not. But overly 'label' that's for sure. Maybe I’m going to paint a lot?
Maybe the woven canvas is an excuse? Probably so. A woman who specializes in psychotherapy completely dissolves into the client’s problem. Having survived the love drama many years ago, she never got sick or reborn. All I need is a match. And the fire of passions, fears, phobias will burn again in her. Match. The fire is getting hotter and brighter. So what now? Where will the author direct the thought of the flow of the picture? I guess you guessed it again. Adultery again. That's how it is.
Forgive me my French, as if to apologize Justine Trier, other dishes, did not provide. Sorry!
Quite a primitive tape with a contrived story. Everyone loves each other, everyone wants each other. But what they want is for sure. But whether they do, the big question. I don't know if you'd like the movie. Would you like it? Well, maybe once. Once. For a change. Nothing more. . .
Think of me in the spring.
And in the summer night think of me,
Think of me at night in autumn.
And on a winter night, think of me.
All that remains now is that the rest of the days and nights are to think of her. . .
You know what I was thinking? My life and I have a novel.
I can’t promise you that this story will somehow strike your mind or leave a deep impression for a long time, because it is quite ordinary, everyday, and more for women than for men. It’s one of the few films that manages to be so multifaceted, telling the story of just one woman.
Synopsis. Sybil is an adult, a successful psychologist, with a family and children, seems at first to be a happy woman. But at one point, she decides to fulfill her old ambitions and return to writing. In a rush to create and lack of final ideas for the book, she gets involved in the story of her new patient and dives into her head.
The very topic of how easy it is sometimes to get entangled in the wilds of memories and reality, literary fiction and life, I think, will be familiar to many. And the main character herself, losing the thread of what is happening, is actually chasing the same simple female.
The way in which the course of the plot occurs at the junction of different genres, the frames replace each other, is worthy of special attention, because it is done in a very non-trivial way. The well-built caste of actors looks like a single inseparable organism, and in general, the atmosphere, France and the sea give the film an exceptional charm.
8 out of 10
Man lives in a constant cycle of events, some willlessly repeat whether we like it or not. Sybil (Virginie Ether) is a writer, now a psychologist, if he lights up with an idea or some business, can reduce himself to “mind”. Why does she sometimes become obsessed with her ideas? If she has problems in her personal life? How does Sybil deal with his inner demons? These and many other questions will be answered by viewers. Now we will dwell on the advantages and disadvantages of the painting Seduction (in the original Cibyl).
Pros:
1. A game by Virginie Ethera.
Virginie Ethera perfectly coped with the role. We experience the spectrum of emotions felt by Sybil, forcing the viewer to live with her frame. Is she doing the right thing to clients? Is it right to solve family problems? Do they really choose what to do? All decisions of Sybil are transmitted to the viewer in the hall.
2. Metaphorical.
All the goals that Sybil leads are faced with the problem of the relationship between parents and children. After all, the main character has problems with her relationship with her mother and raising her own children.
3. Written and directed by Justine Trier.
Justine Trier wrote the script and put the picture in such a way that you kind of survive all the ups and downs of Sybil, become involved in her problems, arising from perhaps the wrong choices. The film is built on the constant contrast of the present and the future, moving from one to another throughout the picture, which gives it a special depth. And competently constructed few erotic episodes make it clear that Sybil ardent and passionate nature.
Let's move on to the disadvantages:
1. The other actors.
The whole environment of Sybil does not cause any emotions - their play is false, their experiences are unreasoning. Margot (Adel Exarchopoulos), who wants to abandon the baby. Egor (Gaspar Ulliel) spins romances with almost all women on the set and allegedly tries to give out some emotions and experiences. Micah (Sandra Hüller) is a film director who can’t handle involving actors in the game. Only members of the Sybil family, who are given little screen time, give out some emotions that reveal the main character.
2. Installation gluing.
Not everyone likes to go from the present to the past and vice versa. Since such a technique can slightly confuse the unprepared viewer.
It is not for nothing that Seduction was nominated for best script at the Cannes Film Festival: the film from an interesting position shows the gradual internal and external destruction of Sybil against the background of the events taking place. The movie was a success, but not everyone will like it. Disadvantages do not allow you to fully imbue the picture, but it can definitely cause the desired response from the viewer.
9 out of 10
Sybil is a writer, 10 years old as hit in psychology, but for the sake of writing decided to quit the practice. Suddenly, a girl on the verge of a nervous breakdown named Margot calls in the middle of the night, crying, begging for a session. Seeking a meeting, where Sybil tries to redirect her to another psychologist, but under the pressure of Shakespearean passions of all formats in the person of one young actress (actually, Margot) decides to leave the girl among his now rare clients - and continue the sessions. And the book immediately begins to be written, inspiration, strength, ideas appear.
Who is Sybil?
Sybil is such a collective female image. She is successful and confident, beautiful, young, she has children and her own business. There's a man, there's a sister, there's ideas. But still, when the frames are switched without warning, and we suddenly find ourselves in the bedroom, on the street, in memories, thoughts, fantasies - it seems that nothing more shaky can be invented. A mosaic of thousands of pieces of various spheres of life, mixed in some fierce impulse to either forget everything or save everything. It's easy to get confused. And Sybil has long been confused: jokes about psychologists who need a psychologist are only half jokes.
We see the heroine writing, discussing the future book, in the office with patients, we see her memories and how they torture her: there is a love story and family skeletons. Kind of a legacy issue. We see Sybil in different circumstances, in different ages and states, and we can’t figure out how. As if there is no flat ground under our feet – there is no stability in the life of the main character, there is no understanding of what kind of person we are facing. Character itself is a very mobile and influenced substance, a scattered mosaic of heterogeneous elements. It is impossible to collect an even picture from this, and it is not so easy to observe the carousel of disparate frames. It is even more difficult to watch how this chaos is complemented by the chaos brought to the life of Sybil from the outside - from the life of Margot.
Plus, each of the patients personifies one of the problems of the heroine. There's an actress, there's a boy, there's someone else. Each of them is an unsolved or trampled, but still a real Sybil problem. And at first it seems that now with this and that our lady will figure out - and here is a beautiful denouement of a beautiful film. But “Seduction” is not a fairy tale, and the story is quite real, where the happy ending implies that at least no one died.
What is the film about?
The tape “Seduction” is also a collective story in which heterogeneous storylines are layered one on the other. Moreover, the genre also mimics what is happening, it is changeable, like Sybil herself, as her life, hopes and fears.
We have several heroes, and they all influence the heroine. What’s more, when Margot reaches out to her and begs for help, a detective begins. Then the drama unfolds as the actress penetrates too deeply into Sybil's heart, and vice versa: Sybil is too curious about the life of the actress. They seem to be connected by more than just nameless semi-anonymous sessions. When the manipulation and strange interaction of the two heroines reaches a limit, comedy begins. Sybil has to intervene in Margot’s life – and it is impossible to follow this without laughing through tears. What is happening seems so absurd that sometimes you think: maybe this is the imagination of the main character - and she is writing a book? However, beyond one limit follows another, and now we are between comedy and thriller, when there is a danger of losing our minds (all at once). And then there's the drama again: when Sybil realizes that the book, psychological practices and personal life should be shared with double barbed wire.
We also have a reflection here: the old-fashioned, holed immersion in itself at every opportunity. On the one hand, every woman can recognize herself in the main character: all these throwing, doubts, the question of realization, the topic of children, the influence of family, temptations ... On the other hand, surely people familiar with psychology will also catch familiar images: digging into the patient's thoughts can often be equivalent to digging into yourself - and sometimes by solving someone else's problem you can swim to a new level in solving your own. Or go to your psychologist, haha (not really funny). Writers who write about things that actually happen will surely understand this point with confusion: where is reality, where is fiction, where is the reality that can be fiction – and the fiction that you want to turn into reality? In general, three different directions behind the whole mosaic are guessed, and they are quite interesting, but we are looking at them from the shore, otherwise the film would not be 1:40, but 3:40, or even all 5:40.
What is Sybil doing? Unhappy love, uneven relationship with the mother, raising children, temptations and bad habits. Everyone is familiar with this, you just need to work and forget. But such a passionate immersion in the life of the patient should still be sought - as if this woman does not have her own. Or she just wants to solve other people’s problems, somehow recoup on their old and unsolvable stories, or even justify their presence. Or maybe Sybil doesn't want to admit they exist and need to be dealt with. Or is writing as confusing as possible, so that she rushes to search for ideas and plot in any manipulative abyss?
Plus, in the frame there is the image of this Sybil, who can not solve some of his problems - but for some reason climbs and tries to solve others. There’s Margot, who came to Sybil for help, but she doesn’t seem to need help, but just the attention and the audience. And there's another lady who doesn't seem to need help at all, but who Sybil's meddling still hurts. Three different directions, three different heroines with fundamentally different characters - as an example of three female types / destinies, converging on one common point for a short time.
Who will win here is unknown. But the thing that will be the most miserable of all will be Sybil is for sure.
Why watch?
Well, wasn't it just that the film was nominated for the Palme d'Or? In addition to the fact that in the mosaic of numerous images you can recognize yourself, here you can also catch the appearance of this or that friend, or the outline of your personal problem. Another example is how not to do it. And in addition, all this throwing from genre to genre, from one stalemate to another, drags — and you think, well, how can you get out of this? — and you wait to find out.