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 Entertainment | May 2005 
Mexican Film Makes Waves At Cannes
 Wire services
| | In this narrative, the seemingly immoral behavior of three "lost souls" living in Mexico City is notable in a world in which such behavior has come to be regarded as utterly moral. |
Cannes, France - Startlingly graphic sex scenes in a Mexican competition entry caused a stir at the Cannes film festival Sunday, where the line between art cinema and pornography has often been blurred.
The controversial and provocative "Batalla En El Cielo," or "Battle in Heaven," is only the second production by lawyer-turned-filmmaker Carlos Reygadas, who won a special mention prize in Cannes in 2002 for his picture "Japon".
The new film tells the story of the bizarre attraction between a man who kidnaps the baby of a friend with his wife and the daughter of a Mexican general who prostitutes herself for pleasure.
The picture opens and closes with a close-up of the beautiful young daughter performing oral sex on the nude, obese, significantly older kidnapper scenes that drew gasps, groans and even nervous laughter from the packed audience.
Subsequent steamy couplings by the unlikely pair and a tender love scene between the man and his equally corpulent wife prompted some journalists and critics to walk out of the theater, while a few praised the film's stunning realism.
"It's not a sexual film, it's not a porn film," Reygadas told reporters.
"The whole world is involved in sex and that's why we're still here. Things happen when people make love... how do they do it, what happens, how do they communicate at that time? That's what the film's about, that's what we relate during the film."
All of the roles in the picture were played by amateur actors and Reygadas said he achieved an effect of "non-acting" in part by refusing to allow his players to see the script before shooting began. |
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