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Crazy passion, emotional scenes, breaks and returns to each other – this is what sacrificial love looks like, which psychologists call pathological addiction. How did brilliant filmmakers see these relationships, and most importantly, show them?
“Fall in love with me, if you dare”
Directed by Jan Samuel, 2003
A film billed as a romantic comedy should, according to the law of the genre, be hilarious. But looking at how two lovers are trying to sting each other more painfully, you don’t want to laugh at all. Innocent pranks gradually develop into ridiculous rivalry, only the victory tastes too bitter.
It all started with a beautiful box – it goes to the one who completes the next task. “The rules of the game have remained the same, but what looked like a prank as a child has become more like a perversion.” Julien (Guillaume Canet) harasses Sophie (Marion Cotillard), she harasses him, and both suffer from every bet won.
A stupid quarrel, a wedding out of spite, a senseless risk and a new bet. The heroes part for ten years, and all this time they are painfully drawn to each other. They do not notice that they are destroying the fate of other people, the main thing is not to interrupt the game in any case, because otherwise life will lose its sharpness. A precious prize is at stake, that same beautiful box from childhood, and the rest is unimportant.
“Last Tango in Paris”
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, 1972
Half a century ago, in his native Italy, the great Bertolucci was accused of distributing pornography and deprived of civil rights for five years for a film recognized as a masterpiece of world cinema. At that time, his work was considered too frank, provocative, balancing on the verge of sexual deviation.
Paul (Marlon Brando), an aging man who has experienced a deep personal drama, enters into a relationship with a young Jeanne (Maria Schneider). He behaves like a classic psychopathic abuser: he refuses to give his name and does not want to know her name, insults and humiliates her in every possible way. Oddly enough, the girl accepts his rules.
She is looking for a meeting with him, and when this happens, she crawls into the apartment on all fours, demonstrating complete submission to the man. She clearly likes the new role of an uninhibited woman. Jeanne transfers to her lover the image of her father, strong, domineering and cruel. She wants intimacy, and, having received miserable crumbs of warmth, she becomes delighted. But Paul rudely pushes her away, and she leaves to return again and experience the pain.
“Night porter”
Directed by Liliana Cavani, 1974
In 1974, Liliana Cavani’s film caused a storm of angry criticism. He was called the fruit of a sick imagination, disgusting, daring, overly naturalistic … And people stood in line for hours to get into the session. In Russia, the film was officially allowed to be released only in the early 1990s. The audience left the cinema halls shocked: the promised “scandalous erotica” turned out to be so shocking.
“There is not a drop of romance here,” says the main character Max (Dirk Bogarde), a former SS officer, now a modest night porter with an extinct look. It really does not exist, there is a history of pathological mutual affection between the victim and the executioner.
1957 Spectacular beauty Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) accompanies her husband, a brilliant American conductor, on tour in Vienna. And suddenly he sees his former tormentor from the concentration camp behind the counter of a luxurious hotel. It seemed that everything was forgotten, but the painful attraction flares up with renewed vigor. She leaves her husband and a prosperous life in order to plunge into the pool of destructive passion again.
“Bitter Moon”
Directed by Roman Polanski, 1992
Critics mercilessly scolded Polanski for being too melodramatic, immoral and wanting to embody his own perverted tendencies on the screen. Nevertheless, many watched and continue to watch his “Bitter Moon” in the same breath.
An English couple, slightly bored in a good marriage, travels on a sea liner. The husband, fascinated by the chic Frenchwoman Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner), is clearly not averse to having an affair. However, her strange husband Oscar (Peter Coyoti) warns him against a rash step and begins a sad confession.
He, an unsuccessful but wealthy American writer, met on a Paris bus with a girl whom he cannot forget. One day, sitting in a cafe with another girlfriend, he looks up at the waitress and recognizes his sorceress. They are seized by unbridled passion, but gentle caresses quickly lose their taste and sex gradually turns into BDSM. Soon this is also boring, they have nothing more to give to each other.
Mimi’s presence annoys Oscar, but she humbly begs to be allowed to stay. He agrees and turns her life into hell: meets with other women, mocks her appearance, says nasty things, forces her to have an abortion. Finally, he manages to get rid of his obsessive girlfriend, but the worst is yet to come. After an accident, Oscar becomes a helpless cripple and Mimi takes revenge.
“My king”
Directed by Maiwenn Le Besco, 2015
Lightness, subtle humor, sentimental romance and, of course, a happy ending are expected from French cinema about love. This film breaks the cliche: it infuriates some, makes others sob, others shrug their shoulders in bewilderment. Because it’s really about heavy addiction, which is often mistaken for great love.
The beginning is deeply metaphorical: the woman frantically catches her breath and desperately breaks down from the top of the mountain along a steep ski slope. It is later revealed that she badly injured her knee that day and is now in need of a long rehabilitation. For several months, she will have to recover from a complex injury and at the same time collect herself piece by piece after a relationship that caused so much pain. Who was next to her for so many years?
“I am not a bastard, I am the king of bastards,” says the main character Giorgio (Vincent Cassel), frankly admiring himself. His whole essence was contained in this phrase.
A typical narcissist, a skilled manipulator, a holiday person who cannot live without shocking and vivid scenes. He attracts Tony (Emmanuelle Bercot) with his charming spontaneity and seems genuinely sincere. But this is an insidious trap, and it seems that there will never be a way out of it.