The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears DVD Review

Director: Helene Cattet, Bruni Forzani

Starring: Klaus Tange, Ursula Bedena, Joe Koener

Certificate: 18

Running Time: 102 minutes

Helene Cattet and Bruni Forzani return with their follow-up to their 2009 film AMER. THE STRANGE COLOUR OF YOUR BODY’S TEARS focuses on Dan Kristensen (Klaus Tange)as he tries to decipher the mysterious disappearance of his wife. His journey leads him into a nightmare fuelled journey discovering things about his puzzling neighbours, all whilst unearthing the secret to his wife’s disappearance.

THE STRANGE COLOUR OF YOUR BODY’S TEARS is visually stunning paying tribute to the Italian giallo films of the 1970s. The film uses imagery and music familiar to the genre in an unconventional and experimental manner. The retro elements provide a distinct visual and romanticism. Cattet  and Forzani provide a rather hypnotic aesthetic, using bold colour choices in a creative and interesting way; the detailing of each shot shows a great care and precision to present a visually dazzling film. The camerawork is very attractive, filled with creative and unusual choices; there is no mistaking the film’s original and distinct style.

Whilst visually engaging to start with, the film continues on what feels like an endless dream sequence. The brash editing and artful shots are appreciated in small doses. However, the over stylising becomes rather exhausting and frustrating. The visual display distracts from everything else, becoming self-indulgent and pretentious at times.

Despite the relentless artsy surrealism of the film, the screenplay adds another element of disappointment. The characters are stale and uninteresting, no real intrigue is present. Any speech doesn’t help in steering the story, which is a complex web drifting off into several different tangents giving the story no real structure. Following the narrative becomes tiresome, the temporal elements are edited to an extent it becomes ridiculous, with repeated and fragmented sequences you are left to piece together. It becomes difficult to keep up with what’s happening leading to a confused story that leads to an unsatisfying end.

Although visually appealing the film can be a little draining, from the endless use of close-up shots to the confused storyline. The wildly imaginative camerawork distracts from any really storytelling. Art house cinema is suppose to present an experimental view of film, this film does that but at the expense of confusing its audience and abandoning any real storytelling.

[usr=1] THE STRANGE COLOUR OF YOUR BODY’S TEARS is released on DVD on 23rd June