BUFF: Knife+Heart

(2018) dir. Yann Gonzalez [France; 110 min]

How does one go about describing Knife+Heart without making it sound too lurid? Yann Gonzalez’s sophomore effort could potentially be described as female-fronted version of William Friedkin’s Cruising mashed up with Troma’s Terror Firmer (maybe with a bit of Brian De Palma’s Blow Out thrown in for good measure), but that doesn’t adequately characterize how dreamy, kinky, surreal and baroque this remarkably unique film is.

Vanessa Paradis plays Anne, an alcoholic gay porn director who works exclusively with her posse of misfits, which includes her editor/lover Lois and her right-hand-queen Archie. When a masked killer starts picking off members of her crew one by one in the midst of her breakup with Lois, Anne must work quickly to reveal the identity of the killer, finish her new film, and keep Lois not just in her life, but alive.

The rather straightforward narrative of Knife+Heart only hints at how wall-to-wall strange and funny this film is. The sordid subject matter combined with the late 70’s setting provide plenty of opportunities for absurdity, voyeuristic thrills and visceral violence. Gonzalez’s brother Anthony, better known by his stage name M83, provides the dreamy, disco-like score. Knife+Heart is destined to be a modern masterpiece of queer cinema.

– Kevin Monahan

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