Métamorphoses (2014)

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Métamorphoses (2014)

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From the film adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) to Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Tropical Malady (2004), metamorphosis is a constant theme in modern queer culture, perhaps because of the transformational force of same-sex desire in a society in which it remains taboo. Honoré’s contribution turns to one of the foundational texts of Western literature: Ovid’s Metamorphoses,a compilation of mythological tales of (mostly heterosexual) encounters between mismatched gods and mortals. This cinematic odyssey follows a constantly shifting cast of characters through a set of episodes in which, given their supernatural nature, anything at all might happen. So characters love, kill, flee. Casting young unknowns as gods and mortals alike, Honoré parallels the subversive nature of Ovid’s text, wherein gods are often challenged, and even bested, by the mortals they seek to rule. At the same time, Honoré maintains what we might call Ovid’s amoralism—filming the idyllic moments in the same calm, detailed fashion as he does the sudden moments of cruelty, murder or sexual violence. The film is about the beauty of bodies in movement and about the beauty of the landscape. If Honoré makes this film now, it is because he wants to reconnect us to all of this beauty, and also to the myth.

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Métamorphoses (2014)

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