Devotion

Fascinating insights under the guise of entertaining comedy
“Another fabulous movie from Catherine Breillat, this time about the difficulties of shooting a sex scene in a movie. Using comedy – a new genre for Breillat – we get a backstage view of filmmaking but in documentary style. The character who plays the director in the movie is based on Breillat, the sex scene in question is taken from her earlier film ‘A Ma Soeur'/ published on Avax by FNB.47 here / as is the main teenage actress. But the film, like all of Breillat's work, is not entertainment alone. It is peppered with philosophical observations on the nature of sexuality as well as demonstrating a devotion to ‘purity' (as opposed to pornography) that is a cornerstone of Breillat's work and a devotion to real emotion.” – Imdb user

Song of Songs was the first Marlene Dietrich vehicle not directed by Josef von Sternberg. The star plays a zaftig German peasant girl who becomes a nude model. She falls in love with a struggling sculptor, but her ambitions get the better of her and she marries a hedonistic baron. Leaving her husband, Dietrich sinks further down the social scale by becoming a cabaret singer. She is eventually reunited with the sculptor, but not before smashing the nude statue based on her voluptuous frame, thereby symbolically purging her checkered past..