Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) - Virginia Eufemi
The young American director Nicolas Pesce returns, after the horror film The eyes of my mother in 2016, with an adaptation of the new Piercing (1994) by Japanese writer Ryu Murakami. Presented in international competition at this eighteenth edition of the NIFFF, Piercing is a cinematic gem, a psychological thriller with a comedy feel.
A young father fools his wife into thinking he's going on a business trip. In reality, he's been meticulously orchestrating the truculent murder of a prostitute for a long time. The man meticulously notes in a red notebook the steps he must take to commit the perfect crime, from the woman's entry into the room to the cleaning up of bloodstains. He also writes down a few personal reflections: for example, it's imperative that the young woman be a native English speaker, as «terror must express itself in English». Or she must practice sado-masochism, as his plan begins with bondage. Once in a hotel room he's booked for the occasion, he repeatedly times each action by miming it, before the arrival of the blessed woman. Nicolas Pesce delivers a masterful scene, carried by the talented Christopher Abbott, of the most violent (and organized) invisible murder in history. But if only things went our way: when the prostitute (Mia Wasikowska) arrives, our man's plans are suddenly turned upside down.
Place and time are suspended: the city, made of cardboard skyscrapers, is a large scale model that almost resizes the actions taking place there. The atmosphere of the seventies is present in the interiors, the clothes and the music, which accompanies the tension of the scenes with a sublime offset. It's also in the use of split-screen, used in particular for telephone scenes, vaguely reminiscent of the calls made by agent OSS 117 in Rio (starring Jean Dujardin). All in all, in Piercing, There's no cold, macabre, scary atmosphere, as you might expect. The characters become almost sympathetic in this child's play atmosphere.
Indeed, the highlight of this remarkable feature is Nicolas Pesce's mastery of the SM game. Isn't it always the one who thinks he's dominant who is the real dominated one? In fact, the whole film is one long sado-masochistic relationship, underlining the true psychological, rather than sexual, significance of this practice. But above all, the murder - which is quickly brought into the story and takes on unexpected dimensions - becomes the nerve center of the narrative. We wait for it, we see it coming, we almost wish it would happen fast so we could get that tooth out. But that's without counting on the talent of the young American director, who plays with us and dominates, to put it mildly, the course of events.
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Write to the author : virginia.eufemi@leregardlibre.com
Photo credit: © NIFFF
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