Mauvais Sang (1986)

_Mauvais Sang_ made me feel cooler just for watching it—like I’d chain-smoked a Gauloises in a neon-lit alley while reciting poetry to nobody in particular. It’s moody, stylish, and occasionally baffling, but there’s real heart pulsing beneath all that noir-drenched angst. I loved Juliette Binoche smouldering on screen, and Julie Delpy has that effortlessly aloof charm that just works. And Dennis Lavant—my god, the man dances. That scene? Electric. I honestly think it should be a law: Lavant must dance in every film. Not just the ones he’s in—every film. The plot wobbles here and there, but the vibes? Impeccable.

Mauvais Sang is at core a crime movie, but the crime serves only as a skeleton. The flesh is the passion of unrequited love and the cerebral processing of the same. Lise loves Alex who loves Anna that loves Mark. Mark, on the other hand, is afraid of The American Woman who was once lovers with Alex father and who will kill him unless he pays the debts of himself and his companions within two weeks. In the nerve system is the libido at hold as a strange virus affects untruthful lovers, which is also the device that cuts through the entire body of the movie. Finally on the skin is an abnormal heat wave caused by the vicinity of Haley's Comet. It is a full bodied movie, and as French as it is, the performance uses full body language as well. While there are a few exaggerated moments that may not appeal to all audiences, there are others that make well up for them.