Exterminating Angels (2006) is the latest
erotic drama from Jean-Claude Brisseau.
A director is trying to cast his latest film project, wherein he hopes to get
to the bottom of what women want sexually and how they go about getting it. The
script will actually grow out of the casting sessions, and rehearsals. He wants
a great deal of improv among the actresses so it doesn't become a film about his
fantasies. It proves difficult to find women willing to participate in the
casting sessions because they include nude masturbation. Further, the film is to
include girl/girl/girl footage. He finds actress one, who effortlessly
masturbates to two climaxes in front of him. Actress two asks to meet him in a
restaurant, where she precedes to masturbate under the table. He commands her
not to come yet, as he has invited her costar. It has become triply exciting, as
a waitress has figured out what is going on, and is clearly excited by it.
When the other actress arrives, the two play under the table, but again our
director orders them to wait for orgasms until they can be alone, and takes them
to a hotel room where we have two remarkable girl/girl scenes. He decides he
needs to cast a third, who ends up being the waitress. We are also treated to
her masturbation scene and a three way among the three women.
Once the cast is assembled, things do not go smoothly, which had been
predicted by many metaphysical omens throughout the film, including dead
grandmothers, female muses, and announcers randomly saying cryptic things.
Most critics talk about the sexuality, and how successful the scenes were,
and call the film engrossing, but very few tried to explain what the film was
trying to convey. It is possible that there is no simple answer to that
question. A female acquaintance once explained to me that men were simple, but
women were more complicated. That might well be the main message of this film.
... or possibly it has no message at all, and is just a French B-movie
for the raincoat crowd, created by an auteur acting out his own sexual
fantasies.
Whether or not it has a message, one thing is certain: it has no audience. It
grossed $23,000 in the entire United Sates.
