Torn Apart (2006)
AKA: La Coupure
Directed by: Jean Chateauvert
Starring: Christophe (Marc Marans), Valerie Canintin (Christine), Vickie Michon Dagenais (Tamara), Michael Kelly (Mario), Marie-Christine Perreault (Mother), Dominik Michon Dagenais (Arthur)
Country: Canada; Effed Up Canadian Cinema
Language: French (Eng Subs); Effed Up French Films
Runtime: 01:19:04
Genres: Siblings-Family, Incest, Old-Young Relationships, Infidelity
Plot – Spoilers:
Christophe and Christine are in love. Or at least they regularly have sex. It’s been that way since they were teens and ran away from home for a few months. Now Christine is married with kids, but her clandestine visits to Christophe’s apartment are an almost daily occurrence. We don’t see much of their Canadian town because the film and the couple’s lives is focused on them, their world, their family and their taboo lives as siblings in a sexual relationship.
La Coupure does a fine job of attempting to capture the complexities of incest, the desire from one to control the other, the constant desperation to break away from each other that tragically rarely dawns on both at the same time – which in turn causes a constant ebb and flow of emotional needs unsatisfactorily patched together with sex.
Let’s say you’re a man who had a lover that died or left. Years later, you meet her grown daughter. Would your mind unwittingly replace her mother with her? What if that lover were your sister and the daughter therefore your niece who was still a kid. What uncomfortable possibilities would that bode for the future. La Coupure gives you plenty to think about.
Good movie.
This film is a plunge down the romance of taboo love between blood related ppl. It’s topic is so fragile that not anyone will be able to fully understand the emotion and complexities of the movie’s plot, bc we as viewers are bounded by the “morality” we grew up with.. that which completely and automatically negates this type of relationships. Setting that morality aside is the only way a viewer of this movie can fully ingest the feelings of each character.
The movie has perfectly portrayed the unconventional romance and love of the protagonists. Its not just actors and actresses calling each other family terms of endearment and fkcing their brains out Kirdy Stevens style. Hate those senseless movies. You will be able to see that this movie was carefully crafted so as not to oversexualize this very fragile and usually misunderstood idealism.
The movie still could be better though. With more locations, and carefully crafted and perfectly placed flashbacks can further deepen the understanding of the viewers. And also a more expensive set of cinematic lenses and innovative camera pov’s will add to overall improvement of this movie. The script can also do a little bit of rework to make it more engaging, interesting and give more understanding to each characters feelings. If this will be remade with modern approach on film making, (with the same director to be safe!) this will be a phenomenal movie of this era.
Overall, a greatly crafted movie!
For me it was difficult to watch. Discomfort all way long. Did watch it to try to understand but flashbacks of when it started when they were younger for some background would’ve help.
Personalty I could never ever live this sort of relation. To top it off, everyone in the surrounding were aware it was going on. And as for the niece, at 12 they all try to seduce and can even be sort of dangerous (jail bait), limits and boundary are to be clearly set by the adult. As for little gay brother, to me it was clear that he felt left out or was he secretly in love with his uncle? And how could everyone let it be, even the husband. Fucked up inner circle.
Damn french Canadian… This context wouldn’t have surprised me if it was in France, they’re that kind of fucked up people there.
“Let’s say you’re a man who had a lover that died or left. Years later, you meet her grown daughter. Would your mind unwittingly replace her mother with her? What if that lover were your sister and the daughter therefore your niece who was still a kid.” Men are fucking disgusting and would stick their deseased dicks into anything. The mods are a bunch of sickos too.
This film does not over-romanticize, nor does it pervert this specific taboo relationship. Rather, it shows it in a very realistic manner, gradually letting us feel and understand the connection between the two characters by letting us into their emotional sphere.
It is a very careful and thought-out film, not typical for this genre in the sense that we see here a fully developed relationship, not a childish experiment. What is going on here is genuine affection and even love, a relationship that is not based solely on sexual attraction. It is almost something that could work, but that is yet for you to see.
High-quality directing and photography, quality acting, believable story and atmosphere, this film will keep you awake all the way through. To the end. If there is one.
Soap opera about a family with “sickos.” The dialog, camerawork and over-acting is comical at times. Almost 2 stars because it did make me laugh a few times but I have to give it 1 star.