Another challenge to the film viewer’s powers of persistence, Claire Denis’ film riveted my attention for the first hour, but in the second hour the hypnotic spell wore off for me and enigma fatigue set in. As lovely and striking as it was to look at, the film lacked the human or narrative connection to keep me alert. Under different conditions I might have been awake to its delights and provocations through to the end. The first half is set in the mountains on the French-Swiss border, and the latter half in Tahiti. The protagonist is a burly sensualist, whose heart starts to fail while he is swimming, biking and screwing in the mountains. Weird, inexplicable things happen, but he seems to buy himself a new heart on the black market, and then returns to Tahiti on a quest I never really figured out. At least some of the scenes represent his dreams, and the time sequence is fractured. Frankly, I was glad to put the puzzle behind me when the closing credits rolled. To really appreciate the sort of spell that Denis can weave, see her Beau Travail. (2005, dvd, n.) *NR* (MC-84.)
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