Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases


Exterminating Angels (2006)

Director: Jean-Claude Brisseau

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Chicago

Beyond France, Brisseau is less known for his movies than the scandal they provoked: In 2005, he was tried for sexual harassment after actresses not cast in his Secret Things (2002)—an unforgettable whatsit about two women who use sex to get ahead in banking—said Brisseau pressured them to masturbate in auditions. By the time he got to court, Brisseau (who ultimately received a fine and a suspended sentence) had already shot Exterminating Angels, about a director who auditions actresses by asking them to masturbate on camera. He claims the “quasitotality” of the screenplay was written before the charges were brought.

From our incomplete perspective, Brisseau has progressed from a boring social realist (1988’s Sound and Fury) to a genre-bending provocateur. He knows how to shoot a compelling scene—and that’s true even of the parts of Exterminating Angels that don’t involve naked women pleasuring each other while anthropologist-auteur François (van den Dreissche) impassively watches. “I can only film what I know!” François snaps when his wife (Bonnet) complains. Given the film’s self-pitying autobiographical elements, all signs suggest that Brisseau agrees.

The movie has nothing to do with Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1962), and derives its title from two actual angels who control François’s actions, denying him culpability. One of them also wants to sleep with him—par for the course. Still, Brisseau’s Brechtian lighting, use of classical music and unique comic tone suggest his artistry has grown in proportion to his skeeviness.

Author: Ben Kenigsberg

Time Out Chicago Issue 115: May 10–16, 2007


What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields




Most popular on this site


Top Stories

The 10 worst date movies

The 10 worst date movies

Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made

Oscar predictions for 2012

Oscar predictions for 2012

We take a punt on who will win this year's golden statues

Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films

Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films

Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas

10 unlikely badboy biopics

10 unlikely badboy biopics

Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects

Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'

Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'

The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing

Has David Cronenberg turned tame?

Has David Cronenberg turned tame?

Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?

Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day

Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day

Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing