The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears

The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears
Initial release: March 12, 2014 (France)
Directors: Bruno Forzani, Hélène Cattet
Cinematography: Manuel Dacosse
Writers: Bruno Forzani, Hélène Cattet
Stars: Klaus Tange, Ursula Bedena, Joe Koener |

Yes, a small format change. I've only gotten a four of five hours sleep, so this seems like a perfect time to change the format of a blog that no one reads anyway. :::grin:::

I have two kids. I work a crazy gig and do freelance on top of it. I have the usual array of extended family issues and I most likely drink too much whiskey. So, there are times where this soon to be 46 year old body wakes up in the middle of the night and thinks, "Yeah, being awake is the right thing to do right now."

Usually when this happens, I lull my brain back to sleep with podcasts, filling in gaps of thought to fool my brain into not thinking long enough to fall asleep again. However last night I thought that it might be the perfect time to watch a film. And, not just any film, but The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears. I saw the other writer / director / partner film AMER and loved it and saw what they presented for THE ABCs of DEATH, so I was longing to see what visual treats Strange Color had to offer. I was not disappointed, though I'm SURE many were. The film is not for the average viewer. It's really meant for the artsy and strange among us.

Preface: If you dislike the earlier works of Dario Argento, the work of Mario Bava, Italian giallo mysteries or art films, do yourself a favor and just avoid this film. Thank me for your hour and 40-some-odd-minutes of time back later. :)  If you love all of the above, dive on this film on Netflix streaming or what-have-you at once. 

This is a mystery first and foremost. A man comes back from a business trip only to find his wife is missing and the apartment is locked from the inside with no sign of where she went. Grand. Our hero Dan is a bit off and becomes a sort of menace in the apartment building as his lost wife searching grows to a frenzy. Enter a detective and more questions than there are answers. I'll stop there - going deeper just gets....strange.

The film is visually stunning and tells a visual narrative with very little dialogue throughout. Like the work of Bava, the film is lit dramatically with lots of red, green and blue gels. The plot line is riddled with metaphor and vivid visual aspects that had me swooning. The sound design had me listening to the sounds in my own life differently all day long.

I love these loose, strange and nightmare-like tales, so this was right up my alley and I loved it as much as I loved their other feature, AMER, though I thought this was more loose and dreamy with far less attention to the plot and far more to the visual aspect of the story. And, if you've seen AMER, you know that means a lot seeing as it had hardly any plot at all.

Watching The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears at 4am was FANTASTIC. It added to the "did I just see what I thought I saw?" the the movie already has in spades.  Yes, I was disappointed that I couldn't find more love for the film in my brief internet search, but I wasn't surprised either.  The WTF Are You Watching Podcast seemed to get what was going on, but other folks seemed like they were not aware of any of the factors listed in my Preface - at all. I felt like saying, "Are you familiar with anything along the lines of Argento, Bava, giallo or Italian Cinema of the 70s in any way, shape or form? Cause these folks NAILED it."  But, like I said, it's not a shocker, either.

There are strong sexual themes in this, but they don't come off as lame, toss away "boobie thrills". These are more like deep, psychological explorations that leave you rather rattled by the end. Very similar to an Argento film, really. The score is brilliant as well, pulling many giallo based soundtracks of the past into play. 

This movie has haunted me for most of the day. I'll forget about it for a moment, then something - a sound, visual or image from the movie will pop me back into the film space and I'll start thinking about it all over again. There are scenes and frames that are burned into my memory - the same thing that happened when I saw AMER. The same thing that happens when you wake up after having a vivid dream and start talking about the scenes within it.  

I enjoyed this little nightmare and loved that I was left with more questions when it was over. It allowed me to explore what I just saw and dive into the various possibilities. Fab!

Especially after seeing SCREAM 4 the previous day. :::yawn::::  heheheh  This was a much needed breath of fresh air.

Loved it.

Dream or nightmare?

Framing - brilliant.

Shots like this made me super happy. :)