Film Review — Demonlover
★★★☆☆ Corporate backstabbing turns deadly in Olivier Assayas’ provocative tech-noir
A corporate spy works to secure the rights to a lucrative hentai studio, becoming entangled in a wider conspiracy that quickly descends into violence.
A transgressive merger of horror and exploitation genres with an arthouse flourish and a pulsing Sonic Youth score, it’s easy to see why Olivier Assayas’ twisted corporate espionage thriller has become such an underground favourite.
Demonlover plays like a demented blend of the complex politicking of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, and David Cronenberg’s mind-warping Videodrome. Its visuals, a hyper-realistic, fly-on-the-wall style reminiscent of the naturalistic works of Paul Greengrass and Michael Mann, eventually give way to something more otherworldly, something more Lynchian.
These inevitable comparisons made in hindsight shouldn’t take anything away from its French auteur, however. A talented and dynamic filmmaker whose body of work has largely eluded me over the years, Assayas crafts an unnerving and immersive experience; a juxtaposed world filled with bright and busy offices, populated by characters barely suppressing their dark true natures and desires.
But the film loses coherence as it careens towards its climax. A fractured finish, clearly intended as some sort of profound commentary on our rapidly slipping morals, fails to truly hit home.
The assembly of international stars Connie Nielsen, Charles Berling, Chloë Sevigny and Gina Gershon make Demonlover well worth a watch for anyone who loves an edgy morality play. A visually striking tech nightmare, but it’s a shame its potent message is compromised by an increasingly erratic delivery.
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