Like a warm Summer's eve nestled lakeside in the Laurentians, raccoons preparing to scavenge, beavers swimming by, loved ones relaxing as they digest a hearty meal, a classic novel open to page 1, vinous declarations, campfire considerations, children imaginatively inquiring, the bugs having disappeared in recent weeks, marshmallows bountifully beckoning, caught-up in your partner's loving gaze, loons distantly calling, owls preparing to emphatically hoot, neighbours tossing the frisbee, an ephemeral sense of joyful permanence, André Forcier's Embrasse-moi comme tu m'aimes (Kiss Me Like You Love It), awaiting inside, ready, for comedic consumption.
The film itself may be more dysfunctional than that, somewhat more chaotic, a Québec still governed by religious principles during World War II, as the seeds of the Quiet Revolution were tenaciously sewn.
Lampooning mass marketed attempts to glorify war efforts, happy-go-lucky affairs which grossly dilute apocalyptic inclinations, perhaps designed to critique homegrown racist discourses as well, the pure French race being mentioned several times, or to sweeten the tone of nationalist agendas, as if Québec was fighting two wars concurrently in the 40s, the film wildly habituates to freely state je ne sais quoi, phantasmagorically theorizing with ir/rational repose.
This is buried in a bizarro incestuous love story wherein which twins desperately desire one another yet can't express their forbidden lust.
It's as if the endearing flair for trouble making found in films like Vic + Flo ont vu un ours and 1er Amour found its way into another underground film that boldly reversed the polarities while imploding to create a bumbling campy romp which formally satirizes mass markets while seeming mainstream nevertheless, like you have a bowl of chilli in front of you and every time you eat a spoonful it tastes like something remarkably different, hash browns, apples, kimchee, carrots, whatever.
Perhaps Forcier never thought Embrasse-moi would catch on so he turned it into a mock-American mainstream debacle (complete with an all-star Québecois cast) to diabolically outwit its hypothetical predestination?
If so well done.
Heavy on the sleaze while remaining robustly solemn.
To laugh or cry?
Enigmatic emoting.
Historical mayhem.
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