Knife + Heart (2018) User Reviews

Good intentions. Bad execution.

[obeys · 5/10 · 13 October 2018]

Sitges Film Festival Review

Story, Setting, Characters, Mood etc. are all pretty cool on paper. I think the pure script of the movie is pretty awesome. Sadly the version shown at the Sitges Film Festival did not manage to put these elements together as one flowing film. It felt unfinished in many aspects. The heart is at the very right place. But the execution did not do it justice.

Another post-modern giallo from another promising film stylist

[davidvmcgillivray-24-905811 · 7/10 · 14 October 2018]

The re-make of "Suspiria" has been preceded in the UK by at least two hommages to its creator Dario Argento. In Argentina Endelman and Montejano produced "Crystal Eyes" while in France Yann Gonzalez paid tribute with "Knife + Heart", a perfect choice for a midnight screening at the London Film Festival. "Crystal Eyes" is marginally the more creative work, certainly the camper, but Gonzalez is a great stylist, who knows his slashers and can flawlessly recreate the exploitation era. In 1979 Paris lesbian film-maker Lois (Vanessa Paradis!) makes arty gay porn that suddenly attracts the attention of a masked fiend, who begins murdering her cast. The opening sequence, which intercuts gay skin flicks with real life, sets the tone. "Knife + Heart" is very pro-porn, pro-gay and intensely cinematic. Although Gonzalez is mainly parodying and poking fun here, he's clearly a gifted stylist, choosing great locations and revelling in that "Suspiria" colour scheme. Two thirds of the way through, the daft story takes a dip, but then builds to a rousing finale in which the heroes are the patrons of a gay grindhouse. At the screening I attended people left the cinema during the main end credits, thereby missing the "message" about life and cinema which comes before the end crawl. Some will be appalled at the idea of Paradis starring in a gay slasher. But she throws herself into her work and is a commanding presence throughout despite strong support from everyone. As with "Crystal Eyes" it'll be interesting to see whether "Knife + Heart" can cross over from the festival circuit. If not it'll also be interesting to see what Gonzalez tries next. A talent to watch.

fairly unique take on a tried-true thriller type

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 15 October 2019]

The word giallo is thrown around in a lot of the reviews here - and not least of which in the description on MUBI - but it strikes me that Yann Gonzalez isn't necessarily all that interested in getting some shocks or indulging so much in the kill set pieces (not that he doesn't completely, with one involving lots of 360 degree pans revealing in each succession the killer approaching and then slicing away) as much as he is in pushing the colors that hes working with and mixing film stocks and, in his way, doing a meta comment on using art as a way to fight back.

When Vanessa Paradis's Anne goes to a police station to be briefly questioned about one of her actors being offed, this is then cut away to her recreating this with her own actors (Anal Fury 5 quickly becomes "Homocidal," the best pun you never thought of because why would you), and when she thinks she can draw out who may be the killer, she quickly stages a scene of sado-masochism... And gets what she is asking for (in the one scene that is truly suspenseful). What I'm trying to say here is that if you go in to Knife+Heart expecting a usual Argento or Fulci or one of those directors, you'll be not so much disappointed as thrown off.

And yes, MUBI, it is "unapologetically queer", which, you know, good. But it is also unapologetically French: the Italians had their own method of madness when it came to drawing out violent and/or surreal set pieces (one commonality is a lush and vibrant and spine-tingling score), and this has some surrealism as well, like with the black and white 16mm that feels like it's deliberately cut in from another movie.

But it also embraces and in fact demands that it be erotic and push the limits (albeit no actual genitals are seen, they might as well be), and Gonzalez is in love with color in a particular way. When we see red, it feels especially red and fiery; when we see blue, it's particularly somber and sad. And black? Well, that's the name of the game, man/woman - darkness is all around these characters, but what I also find striking is that, for the types the gay actors and some crew are, they feel like real people, which I often didn't get from Italian Giallos.

One issue though is that it is a director preferring style over substance. He loves Paradis clearly and what she can bring, but her role is thin and I never really felt for her (though she is, without spoiling, denied her moment of redemption that should come). Maybe that makes her more tragic, but I just didn't feel it, and that is what also is more French to me than anything - the sense of doomed romance and ennui which... Cool. But it's definitely more of a visual and sensory experience than one for story or real pathos.

reminded me of those erotic Giallo back in the days

[trashgang · 11 April 2020]

This reminded me a lot of the heydays of Giallos. The colors, the story and even the gay and lesbian scene's. They are just on the edge of explicit, so typical French.

It wasn't really my thing because the whole movie is about the gay scene, so I can understand if you are into that you will love this. You can easily find out who the killer is, it's all explained in the second part of this flick.

Why I watched it, I grew up with Vanessa Paradis. So it was nice to see she's still standing an din fact still looks the same.

Calling it a Giallo isn't maybe all correct but back then you had some explicit sexual tinted Giallos and myabe it fits into that genre. But a bit of weak story tears it down.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

A stylish giallo-esque French film

[gedikreverdi · 6/10 · 30 September 2021]

It started off just like a giallo with a masked killer going after actors of a porn movie. He killed his victims with a dildo-knife. And then there's the love between the boss and her editor who walked out on her while the boss is still crazy about her. I wanted it to be a good whodunnit and/or whydunnit but it took a turn and became a bit fantastic. There's a blind black bird at every murder scene. They found a feather of it in one of the crime scenes and the boss went to a town where it's supposed to live. There she found a missing and her mother crying by her empty grave. The town, its train station, the night at the graveyard and the daughter of the owner of the inn, everything looked so charming and intriguing. There was a fire at the barn and one of the lovers was dead and Guy Favre was missing. It turns out it was him going after the actors because one of them would resemble his boyfriend. He tried to kill him in be dark room of the cinema but the audience lynched him after finding out he's the killer. He was burned but those mythical blind birds in the forest healed him.

The ending could have been better but everything looks so good that I can ignore it and I hope we'll see more French giallo-esque films in the future.

Modern giallo

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 21 February 2020]

Knife + Heart is a true anomaly when it comes to giallo. It's from France, a country more given to the fantastique film than the giallo - though there are movies like The Night Caller, Without Apparent Motive and The Night Under the Throat. And its victims aren't gorgeous women, but the actors of the gay porn industry, changing the psychosexual dynamics of the form.

Instead of featuring the sounds of a band like Goblin or a score by the likes of Morricone or Orlandi, Knife + Heart has music by Anthony Gonzalez of M83 who is director Yann Gonzalez's brother.

A young man is killed by a masked man whose very sex conceals his murder weapon to open the film. Then, we meet Anne (Vanessa Paradis), an adult film director who has recently been abandoned by her girlfriend and editor Lois. The man killed in the opening was the star of several of her films; now she must find an actor to take his place. That leads her to Nans, who despite identifying as a straight man agrees to be in her movie.

The new film - Homocidal - will be her version of the murders, which continue targeting members of her cast. The police either can't - or won't - help. But the movie gets finished and as the group celebrates its completion with a picnic, the killer strikes again, just as Anne pretty much assaults Lois in an attempt to get her back.

The true killer is a man whose father caught him making love to another man. He killed his lover and castrated his son, who was also burned in a fire before being brought back from the dead by a blind crow - the fact that this movie isn't called Call of the Blind Crow speaks to its non-Italian origins - and seeing one of Anne's movies brought his memories back.

This being a giallo, there's also a bird expert with a disfigured hand that looks like he has, quite literally, chicken fingers. Plus, the entire end of the movie is explained via voiceover. The fact that so much of this movie is given to style over substance means that it lives up to the movies that inspired it.

While the murders are in your face, the sex is nearly hidden from view. And Anne is an intriguing protagonist - drunken and bitter instead of the normal virginal giallo and slasher ingenues that save the day. She instead brings the killer closer with each scene that she directs.

Entertaining, fun giallo-esque murder mystery with a B-Movie feel...

[b-c-tolbert · 8/10 · 2 February 2019]

I have a sick sense of humor.

So it wasn't a surprise that during most of the run time for "Heart + Knife" I was laughing my-ass off. The scenario was ridiculous, but I found a lot to relate to here as a gay man, and as a B-Movie, Giallo and cheesy gay art porn lover.

This is good camp. Like an absurd mash up of early Pedro Almodovar, James Bigod, John Waters and Gregg Araki with a little Clair Denis drama for good measure.

For me, it worked. And is one of the better queer films I've seen in a while. It's refreshingly shameless and at times very funny. You wouldn't see a film like this made in the US nowadays!

Actor Nicolas Maury was a standout for me, playing the assistant to troubled porno directress Vanessa Paradis. Every time he appeared he was reliable for a good laugh, especially during the film within a film porno scenes.

So yeah, this isn't heady stuff. It's fromage.

The kind of film that goes well with wine, weed and an open mind. Film snobs and conservatives should leave their badges at the door.

A stylish yet astoundingly derivative dumpster fire

[moonmonday · 2/10 · 27 August 2019]

Cultural stereotypes abound in this test of patience from France, acted so broadly that it makes the Three Stooges look subtle. Vanessa Paradis is charming in her own way, but she can't carry this poorly-composed dumpster fire, even if it is beautifully-shot and has a gorgeous soundtrack from M83.

Make no mistake: this is a movie more about a failed lesbian love affair than it is anything else, and it's about as enjoyable as watching a series of hate crimes. Which is to say, not at all. It's unforgivably boring, and for a French film and a film dealing with gay pornography as a focus, it's also terrified of actually committing to the topic. There's barely any nudity to speak of, and certainly nothing surprising or even approaching shocking. If you're going to make a lurid horror film about a violent killer in the very sketchy territory of porn production -- especially gay porn -- you have to actually commit to it. Real giallo didn't exactly shy away from nudity or sex and, even if most of the movies weren't much count, they at least could keep an audience engaged with things happening, whether or not they led to a satisfying conclusion.

But speaking as a gay man and someone who has seen quite a lot of both French cinema and gay cinema (not to mention giallo), this was less than mediocre at best and incredibly offensive at worst. All in all, it's boring, and that's one of the worst things something supposed to entertain can be. Inane, pretentious, unhappy, unentertaining, unamusing, and incredibly superficial -- that's this movie. When it's at its lowest, it comes off as a homophobic parade of poorly-written and poorly-realized nonsense. When it's at its best, it relies on visuals and score...which makes the story pointless.

It's a shame, since the same director also did You And The Night, which was a fantastic film. You And The Night worked because it was a fantasy, with a tremendous magic to the thread of its story, and its at-times incoherent quality seemed dreamlike and engaging. It's a much better choice to watch than this turd, and it's also given a soundtrack by the brilliant M83. Watch it instead.

A likable giallo throwback with a few minor detriments

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 12 July 2022]

After a series of strange murders, a film director trying to finish her most recent gay porn realizes that the incidents are centered on the cast of one of her films by a masked maniac intent on seeking retribution for a past film mocking a debilitating incident he suffered and tries to stop him.

There was a lot to like with this one overall. Among the most likable factors here is the generally impressive setup that manages to work a highly effective old-school atmosphere into the universe of sleaze and depravity featured here. As there's a generally fun vibe during the film shoots that take place, whether it's the early threesome choreographed by her friend, the police station interview mock-up, or the arthouse-style recreation of the murder scene, that all combine to set up the confines of the studio system she's working within at the same time as the killer begins striking the performers of her crew. The recruitment of new performers to fill out the roles of those who are being killed off goes along rather nicely with the discovery of the origin story at play tying everything together. As well, there's also a lot of fun here with the enjoyably decadent and erotically-tinged kill scenes at play throughout here. Being fueled by the atmosphere at play here with the killer preying on victims by employing sexuality to his advantage just as freely as the performers do in their scenes with a highly-engrossing arthouse sensibility to its technical prowess, this one comes across as a rather slick and stylish effort. With some effective suspense in the opening ambush in the nightclub with the actual attack taking place in the bedroom, appearing to a drugged-out victim in the car, or the dizzying sequence in the forest during the rainstorm, the attacks in this one are quite brutal and enjoyable that are a part of this one's likability. The other good part here that has a lot to like is the overall giallo-styled format that's in play. The whole concept of the creative crew being targeted by the strange masked killer that fuels an investigation into their identity after getting nowhere with the authorities is a classic genre trope employed to good effect here. After the series of murders targeting people in her company, that she's forced to play amateur detective and investigate who's responsible for the deaths leads her to the small-town kid who died and set everything in motion with the events that angered him being replicated in her films is a setup in the style. This gives off a rather fun setup that goes alongside the rather impressive technicalities and extravagant lighting featured throughout to give this an enjoyable enough series of positives. There are a few minor drawbacks that emerge here. The main issue here is the decidedly non-giallo setup that gives away the killer's identity rather than focusing on investigating who it actually is. Instead of looking into the potential suspects since this never provides any and then discovering who they are at the very, this just flat-out says who it is and then features a confrontation with the identified figure so there's little suspense about who it is that goes against the genre's setup. There's also a lot to dislike with that final confrontation which is pretty underwhelming rather than cathartic and ends the film on a slightly sour note. It's the features that end up holding this one back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, strong sexual references, Nudity, and drug use.

Cringe factor high

[carlise2 · 1/10 · 18 July 2018]

Trying (too hard) to ride on the LGBT movie trend, as well as misusing reference films such as 'Cruising' (by W.Friedkin), this item is definitely more like an appalling, tedious experimental piece of garbage than a first-rate movie.

Grotesque, swept-under-the-carpet scenario, overplayed excrutiating dialogues, and painful, cheap synth score for soundtrack...not to mention Vanessa Paradis' cartoonesque performance that does her character no favor, squeaking in a voice reminiscent of Mickey Mouse and Tweety Pie.

Beware, the main danger in the story is not the knife itself (the 'couteau'), but utter boredom, if you've managed to stay until the end.

What a bore

[arrmeen · 1/10 · 15 September 2021]

What did I just watch, why did I watch this. What were the makers making of this, why did anyone produce this and lastly why did Shudder stream it.

Can't say anything beyond this , I am a big fan of Gialo movies this tries to be one , but falls flat miserably and badly. Except for the cinematography in some scenes.

Can't recommend watching.. A real bad attempt at murder mystery.

A future classic.

[MOscarbradley · 9/10 · 26 July 2019]

Imagine "Stranger By the Lake" directed by Dario Argento or better still, Claire Denis and you're about a quarter of the way there. "Knife+Heart" is a deliciously giddy piece of gay giallo, partly "Cruising", partly "Dressed to Kill" and yet feeling totally original. Anne, (an excellent Vanessa Paradis), is a producer of gay male porn whose actors suddenly keep getting murdered in particularly nasty ways. Rather than initially shedding tears, Anne turns the killings into a movie she calls 'Homocidal'.



Naturally it's gruesome but it's also as stylish and as gorgeous as anything DePalma might have done and director Yann Gonzalez is bold enough to take the clichés of the genre, (thunderstorms, a black crow to herald the murders), and turn them on their head; you are never quite sure which way he's heading. Even the sexual make-up of his characters is never clearly defined. This is a really smart take on a genre we thought we knew inside out; once upon a time we would have called it 'post-modern' but don't let that put you off. It's set in 1979 and fans of giallo from that period will find much to enjoy here just as anyone interested in New Queer Cinema will also find much to relish...oh, and don't leave until the very last image leaves the screen

Sorry, but I got bored

[jcslawyer · 4/10 · 17 January 2022]

I really wanted to like this movie, especially based on the reviews, but it just bored me to tears. I just stopped after half way through and read the synopsis to find out what happened. Glad I stopped... completely unoriginal and yawn-inducing.

It started strong. I like how you, as the viewer, were pulled into the film's world. I was hoping that the first death would be the only Argento-style moment. Unfortunately, the tone of the rest just made me feel like I was watching another of the many films I've watched in the past. I wasn't expecting jump scares...just something new or original (somewhat).

I'm usually really forgiving of movies. I don't have superior taste or have high standards. I just want to be entertained and to be told a story. But, I do want something a tad original and fresh. I just didn't feel anything about this was original or fresh. It's bad, in my opinion, when I'd just rather read the synopsis rather than finish.

I usually give movies that are "meh" or "aiight" a 5. If you're at a 4, it means you fell below that to "not the worst, but I don't want to watch again..."

I'm not saying skip it. Just know what you're getting into before you watch. See the other non-spoiler reviews to see if it's your cup. If it sounds too familiar, and you need something new, then just simply move along. There are a ton of movies (especially French movies) that have great stories....horror or otherwise.

Deeper Meaning In a Neo-Giallo

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 9/10 · 10 December 2019]

This was a film that one of my buddies from social media told me about. It was already on my radar a new film to check out from this year, but his high praise made me move it up my 'To See List'. Also one of my favorite podcasters really seemed to enjoy it as well. This is actually a neo-giallo film that comes from France and Mexico. I know for purists, that makes this not a gialli, but after seeing this, it most definitely is. The synopsis is Paris, summer 1979. Anne (Vanessa Paradis) is a producer of cheap gay porn. When Lois (Kate Moran), her editor and companion leaves her, she attempts to get her back by making a more ambitious film with the flamboyant Archibald (Nicolas Maury).

Now I should lead off stating that this is definitely an arthouse film. We start with intercutting Loïs as she is editing the latest dallies for a film. This is being seen with the star of that film, Karl (Bastien Waultier), inside of a gay, fetish bar. As he's dancing with some men, he looks across the room at someone in a leather mask. This person leaves and Karl follows. The two go home together, where Karl is tied up. He's then killed as the masked person stabs him with a dildo that is actually concealing a knife.

Later that night, Anne calls Loïs and we learn the two were lovers, but they're broken up. Anne wants her back, but Loïs can't do it. This upsets her and she is hung on up. We get that Anne has a bit of a drinking problem and she's highly emotional.

Anne comes to work the next day where we see Archibald directing an adult film with Thierry (Félix Maritaud) and two other actors. Anne goes upstairs were she sees spies on Loïs while she works.

Things take a turn when the police call to inform them of the death of Karl. This though gives Anne an idea for her next movie. Things take a dark turn though, as more of her actors are killed by this masked man. The film that she is making is mimicking the crimes around her and she even has Archibald playing as her. To star in it, she finds Nans (Khaled Alouach) who looks similar to the star of the film we saw earlier, Fouad. He at first declines, but the money is a bit too good. The crew has to decide though to continue to work and put their lives at risk. Anne only seems interesting in getting Loïs back though. Anne tries to find out who the killer is behind it is too late.

Now I'm glad I finally got to see this movie, because there's a lot to unfold here. The first thing I want to dive into is the time period this is set. I think that is quite interesting having this be at the tail end of the 1970's, which was really a time for free love. I'm of course looking at this as an American, where we are quite prudish. I think the time period is quite important for my next point though.

That would be homosexuality. Anne and Loïs was a couple that is now broken up. Anne is the director for gay porn with Loïs as the editor. All of the actors we see at first are homosexuals as well. What is interesting is that Nans is straight, but the money is too good for him to not be a part of this film to the point where Anne offers him his weekly salary for just a couple of days of work. This film really does do well at celebrating that there's nothing wrong with this and I dig that. There's a dark side to it as well though.

This brings to me to the point that the killer is knocking off the actors for this company. What is interesting about this though is the actual reason the killer is killing them. At the time of the reveal, it is believed that the killer is doing this because of these people's sexual orientation. We as viewers know though are given a bit more than that. Anne does the normal giallo troupe to explain everything that has happened and it actually makes the killer seem tragic. My buddy said this in his recommendation and it is completely right. I don't want to spoil this, so you will have to listen to my podcast where I will delve into this a bit more.

Since I've already shifted over into this, we do get that troupe of the over explaining to ensure we as the audience know what we just saw. We also get a great looking killer. They wear a black, leather mask and have similar gloves. They use a knife for all of the killings as well. We even get that Anne is having dreams that lead us to the truth. What is interesting about this, she is taking her dreams to make her movie and when she's told to follow what they're telling her, that is how we explain who and why the killer is doing what he's doing. I really dug this and I have to admit, I didn't predict the killer which is something that I grade on these types of films.

That will take me to the pacing here. I do think that his runs a tad bit long. It comes in around 105 minutes. I don't want to say I got bored here, because I think everything that we see was needed. We get introduced to our characters and that first death within the opening 10 minutes. From there we build the tension as things go down. It keeps with the giallo sub-genre with Anne, not being a cop, being the one to solve what is going on here. I thought we got the kills at a good interval, ramping up that tension to a satisfying conclusion in a movie theater. As I said, I didn't predict the killer so I did enjoy that as well.

As for the acting, I thought that it was good across the board. Paradis I thought was solid as the lead here. We see that she is unstable and has a drinking problem throughout. I unfortunately connected with her in that I've had an ex-girlfriend break up with me and I've done everything that I can to get her back. We don't really get a lot of growth from her aside from the ending is trying to say she is at peace with everything, at least that's how I interpreted it. Maury I thought was solid in his performance. Same goes for Moran, Jonathan Genet, Maritaud, Alouach and the rest of the cast were all solid.

The effects were really good as well. I thought the weapon was a bit much, but it actually fits so well with this film and the motif of homosexuality. What I also like is that it keeps men and women on the table as possible killers. The blood we get looks good and the wounds do as well. We get a few of them so that is solid as well. I also think that Gonzalez shot the hell out of this film. It looks beautiful. I like that the dream sequences are inverted in color. This hides certain things from us as the audience while still giving us a bit of the back-story. The film that Anne is shooting also has an odd dreamlike feel to it. The cinematography here is definitely on point.

That takes me to the last thing to cover which is the soundtrack. I think that M83 did a solid job. It gives that feel that we're back in the 70's, especially in the club scenes. There does seem to be long stretches where there isn't a score, but that does work in building tension. I don't think this will be a soundtrack I will listen to often. I do think that it works for what they needed here for sure.

Now with that said, I'm so glad I didn't sleep on this film any longer. I think that this is a beautiful looking neo-giallo film that's not from Italy. It has a taboo subject that is socially relevant now and placing it back into the time period they did definitely works. The acting is solid across the board with Paradis really doing a great job as our lead. She's such a broken character in is helped to put it back together with this tragedy around her. I think the look of the killer is great, the kills are pretty solid and I think that it is mystery that I didn't find predictable. The soundtrack fits for what was needed and I really dug this overall. I will say that if you have issues with homosexuality, I don't think you will enjoy this, as we get to see a lot of it on screen and that is the crux of the story. If you're an adult and enjoy films with an arthouse flair, give this a viewing especially giallo fans.

Hilariously bad.

[m-47826 · 2/10 · 25 June 2022]

It's the kind of arthouse film that can only make you laugh, with its silly script and cringeworthy acting. Paradis and Maury were the highlights of this mess. The first, because she's just good at everything she does, and Maury for his hysterical portrayal of flamboyant gay Archibald. The horror aspect is barely existent, because you know what will eventually happen. With the obvious staging and build up. And the killer's motive is ridiculously kismet. The title says it all, and reveals a big twist. If you can even call that one. I liked it for all it flaws, but it is anything but a good movie. And another example of glorifying duds because they happen to tick the right boxes...

A great queer giallo slasher that pulls at the heart strings.

[thebadatgaming · 10/10 · 26 June 2019]

This is a great homage to giallo slashers, even filmed on 35mm to give some shots that really feel giallo, and it being a queer slasher is amazing to me, and it does not perpetuate many sterotypes. This movie has it all, a lesbian gay porn director, many many many many scenes of porn being directed, a quite sad break up with the lesbian director and her film editor, some quite good gore and kills, and the tragic back story of the killer that really killed me in the end. All in all this is a great queer movie and a great slasher, i would reccomend it to others to watch just make sure you know theres a lot of nudity in this movie (it is french after all)

Cinema Omnivore - Knife + Heart (2018) 7.5/10

[lasttimeisaw · 8/10 · 8 September 2021]

"Essentially, the film is as much a whodunit as an audacious testimony of queer identity and sexuality, thoroughly drenched in the retro fabrics, palette (giallo infusion) and atmospherics (voyeuristic, steamy), KNIFE + HEART flaunts male nudity, homosexual gaze, transsexual presentation daringly and unflinchingly. A blond, whey-faced Nicolas Maury's brazen effeminacy is as foregrounded as Paradis' own lovesick melancholia, it is pulpy yet defiantly inviting, strangely mythical (the talon man, anyone?), but its emotional undertow never resides, like Romane Bohringer's cameo, her inarticulate yearning is layered beautifully."

read my full review on my blog: Cinema Omnivore, thanks.

A mediation on death and sex

[nehpetstephen · 8/10 · 9 August 2019]

KNIFE+HEART isn't the first work of art to combine the specter of the AIDS epidemic, the sex positivity of the gay liberation movement (which came to a crashing halt with the emergence of AIDS), and the conventions of horror/thriller/slasher films. In poetry form, Kevin Killian's 1997 ARGENTO SERIES fused the brightly colored blood splatter of SUSPIRIA with the inexplicable death toll of HIV. Probably my favorite of all such works, however, is Alain Guiraudie's 2014 film STRANGER BY THE LAKE, which yearns for the titillation of casual sex even as it constantly exudes the threatening possibilities inherent in such encounters in a way that's truly unsettling.

KNIFE+HEART isn't about AIDS, per se, but it does pile on a nicely textured layer of meanings about the interlocking nature of the sex and the death drive. The violent impulses that underlie S&M fantasies; the death of the ego that makes dance floors, drug trips, and uninhibited sexual encounters equally ecstatic; the orgasmic peak that led English Renaissance poets to use "die" as a metaphoric synonym for "climax"; the "death" of the presumed-straight child that occurs whenever a queer adolescent or adult comes out of the closet and must then sometimes abandon past expectations, past claims to identity, and links to old family and friends; the loss a parent might feel when a child leaves for a safer queer space like the city; the loss of one's individuality when entering into a committed partnership with another person; the godlike control over life and death that lies in both the hands of the artist and the medium of photography, which captures and preserves moments in time; and the literal violence and murder perpetrated against not only queer and trans people but also sex workers in general--KNIFE+HEART is about all of this, I think, and probably a lot more, including things perhaps too personal for a viewer to decipher.

KNIFE+HEART carries a heavy load of theoretical possibilities, but it never comes across as pretentious or overladen. Rather, it's consistently engaging, with campy excesses of giallo bloodshed, a proliferation of cute boys, a pulsing soundtrack by M83, and bits of both levity and realism that make it moving even though it is essentially, like the best of Argento, utterly ridiculous and implausible. It may not have quite the same high style that peak Argento had, but it definitely has a lot more substance.

An Audiovisual Feast

[jacobsonalan · 8/10 · 13 September 2019]

Stylish, provocative murder mystery set in 1979 Paris. Wholly integrated/non-exploitative normalizing s*x of all kinds. Dildo knives. A visual feast added to an M83 soundtrack!

Wonderful Absurdist Cinema

[jromanbaker · 10/10 · 12 September 2020]

I have tried to avoid the reviews of this film, and the few that I have read disclose a lot of the plot. It has taken me a while to watch it and during the first killing I thought of course of 'Cruising'. Whatever the merits or the controversy of that film, this is not at all like it. It borders on the Absurdist with twists and turns that would have made even Ionesco's head spin. It is a wonderful portrait of 1979 male gay porn film-making and the focus of that (absurd in itself) period is wonderfully portrayed. Even the camera spins in circles that made me giddy with pleasure and the special effects for me succeeded completely. Even seeing people with claws for hands looked normal in the context of a certain forest cemetery, and the murder scenes were so way-over-the-top that horror was the last thing about them. Vanessa Paradis was perfect and I was just a little disappointed that the superb Felix Maritaud was not given a bigger role. For those who hate images of homosexuality in all its delirious forms, and for those who are so PC that the thought of two lesbians making male gay porn is going too far, avoid this concoction of crazed delights. I must mention that a long sequence set in 'Le Far West' cinema, an iconic place of the period, is one of the best sequences I have seen. There is a short novel called 'Le Far West' by John Roman Baker which is set entirely in that cinema. For humour, decadence and a sense of fun towards horror and what the stupid call 'perverse' look no further. Yet another Queer and superbly watchable French film.

Art + heart

[soniarhea · 8/10 · 19 February 2021]

A work of contemporary heart with a retro setting, to be seen as such, and to reflect.

Too beautiful, cliché and ingenious use and inlaying is a sad, even classical beauty.

[c-24483 · 10/10 · 10 November 2018]

Too beautiful, cliché and ingenious use and inlaying is a sad, even classical beauty.

Flawlessly executed, brilliant combination of things!

[Stay_away_from_the_Metropol · 9/10 · 9 October 2019]

Wow! It's almost as if this movie was made specifically to cater to my tastes! This movie came onto my radar when it's incredible music score by M83 went up on Spotify. It instantly became one of my favorite albums of 2019, which is a great feat for a score. I read a bunch of mediocre reviews so I didn't rush to see it, but wow, were those reviewers wrong.

It's as if Dario Argento produced and directed (at his peak), brought in Asia Argento and John Cameron Mitchell to write, and together they created this beautiful spiritual love-letter to William Friedkin's CRUISING. The movie has a WICKED sense of humor and tons of memorable sequences that never hold back on the intensity or the photographic grace. Vanessa Paradis is striking and intriguing as the lead, and a bit of an anti-hero. The killer and the way he kills is truly frightening. He will not be forgotten. And the wonderful music adds so much - M83's psychedelic disco-synth score sits somewhere in the realm of Patrick Cowley crossed with Jean-Michel Jarre's breakthrough "Les Granges Brulees". Other non-M83 tracks by artists such as Malaria! fit in seamlessly.

I truly loved this movie and was greatly surprised by how well-crafted, thoroughly amusing, and how "it's own" it managed to be. One of my favorites of 2019 (yes, I see it was originally released in 2018 but it got released in 2019 in the U.S. so I'm counting it as 2019).

Interesting and bizarre

[laraminnock · 9/10 · 23 July 2019]

This film was popular at the New Zealand International Film Festival. Obviously its a film that doesnt take itself too seriously so if you expect a real thriller and ar eunable to recognise or enjoy the other genres its probably not for you. I would say its more aimed at those who like 80s films. A lot of the references and in particular the portrayal of LGBT culture makes more sense when you see it as if its in the 80s. If you like humour and puns in your slasher movies aswell as LGBT themes you may well enjoy it but equally some of the film is pretty heavy actually if you were to think about the grotesqueness of some of what occurs (themes of murder, rape,disfigurement) . The film is at times bizarre and although it uses humour to portray the seedy and cheesy side of making porn it does also delve into deeper themes, particularly in relation to the emotions involved in breakdowns of a lesbian relationship. As a lesbian myself I thought the emotions involved were explored quite well on screen, particularly when you are able to interpret the meanings behind what some of the scenes show you can see the common themes.

The main character was I felt was portrayed sometimes deliberatly in a way that made her less likeable which made the character development more interesting and made you question things in the movie.

I like how it wasnt your typical trashy slasher film in that it had some nuances of fantasy in the story telling too. The portrayal of the erotic scenes used humour well, most people in the cinema laughed at the humour in the film.

Stunning Queer Arthouse Horror

[thalassafischer · 9/10 · 10 June 2023]

Knife + Heart is a surreal and fantastically beautiful horror film that goes beyond giallo. While elements of the Italian murder mystery sub-genre are present, Un couteau dans le coeur seems more devoted to the over all FEEL of 1970s film making, ranging from giallo to supernatural horror to pretentious art film to seedy porn. I don't know if it's just me, but I also suspected the director is an Alan Parsons Project fan - some of the music sounds vaguely like the late 70s-early 80s group and there is in fact a huge pyramid in a strange scene for no apparent reason.

Vanessa Paradis is drop dead sexy as middle-aged, hard drinking lesbian Anne. Paradis radiates the kind of mysterious rough living, junkie chic that Courtney Love had before she got rich, cleaned up and had plastic surgery...except twenty years older. Anne is every brazen, aging trailer-park prostitute personified and is utterly compelling in her sometimes creepy, sometimes sympathetic madness. In a few scenes I saw real chemistry between Anne and Lois, but as gay as this flick is, lesbian sexuality is disappointingly minimal. The ladies' gay bar though is a real treat with its red velveteen, gentle butch bartender and bizarre gothic furry sex play.

Beautiful middle aged women are everywhere, and this is as much of a nod to gay culture as to affirmation of lesbian women as attractive in their older years. It may also be a nod to giallo director Antonio Bido who put middle aged women repeatedly in his films, a really unique touch during an era of giallo which glorified very young fashion model types as scream queens.