Rating: C+
Dir: Andrzej Zulawski
Star: Sam Neill, Isobel Adjani, Heinz Bennent, Margit Carstebsen
Truly a weird animal, in more ways than one. On the top level, this is your bog-standard European art-house flick, with Neill and Adjani as a bickering couple, slowly falling apart both in their relationship, and mentally, while both have affairs. So far, so normal. Except Adjani is actually shagging a tenticular, icky creature, which may be extra-terrestrial (explanations are NOT this movie’s strong suit), and killing anyone who discovers her secret.
The result is uncomfortable to watch, wobbling between exploitation and angst-ridden drama. Adjani is gloriously insane, falling apart spectacularly (Samantha Janus she is not), but the film’s major failing is that it never attempts to make the characters even slightly sympathetic. Zulawski discards all SF conventions, which certainly gives a fresh angle to things. However, you’ve basically got an Outer Limits episode stretched out to almost two hours, and that’s too long to watch people about whom you just don’t give a damn.