Serra’s latest ‘slow cinema’ effort is at times hypnotic and beguiling, though it isn’t always consistently rewarding as he weaves a tale set in Tahiti about a stagnating High Commissioner who becomes privy to the prospect of something unimaginably nightmarish happening to his beloved French Polynesian island.
French New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Leaud lies bedridden for two hours in Albert Serra’s exquisite, slow-burning 18th-century take on the agonising final days of the famous Sun King, shot with such a high fidelity to history that one might mistake it for documentary authenticity.
If you enjoy slow arthouse cinema that is also extremely perverse, then this new tableau-styled film by Albert Serra about libertinism in 18th century France may be your cup of tea.
Eternality Tan 