Seven-and-a-half years after debuting at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival — where it played alongside Che, Changeling, Hunger, Synecdoche, Waltz with Bashir, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, to name just a few — Bertrand Bonello‘s On War is getting a U.S. theatrical release. Why that’s only happening now hasn’t been made clear — I wondered if Léa Seydoux‘s work in Spectre was some sort of impetus, but 007 didn’t help this movie’s case when Mathieu Amalric, its star, was seen in a villain role six months after the premiere — but I suspect inquiries are ultimately beyond the point. To receive “new” (read: relatively inaccessible) work from one of contemporary cinema’s more exciting voices is good enough.
What you’ll get from this trailer is a bit beyond me, though. As one who finds the closed-off, hyper-focused qualities from House of Tolerance and Saint Laurent particularly compelling, On War‘s premise — a lonely man is taken to a remote country home where “a war between the sexes,” led by none other than Asia Argento, is being waged — and these initial glimpses prove promising. (I like to think that even those to whom Bonello’s name means nothing will yield pleasure from the insane imagery on display.) It might not really get anywhere, commercial-wise, but this is a very pleasant end-of-year surprise, and probably worth more than the zero attention it’s yet received.
Watch the preview below (via Apple):
Synopsis:
After a freak accident, Bert (Mathieu Amalric) gets locked in a coffin overnight, scaring him profoundly and moving him to change his life. He decides to stop focusing on work and seek pleasure. When he encounters a strange man, Charles (Guillaume Depardieu), offering him the ultimate pleasure in a place called The Kingdom, Bert goes with him. Instead of pleasure, he finds himself in the middle of a war between the sexes led by sexy and strict Uma (Asia Argento), chased by a young woman, Maria (Lea Seydoux), befriended by the mesmerizing Rachel (Elina Lowensohn), and that’s when it gets weird. Find out who wins, who loses and whether Bert can ever return to “normal.”
On War will enter a limited release on December 4.