Directed by:
Antoine BarraudScreenplay:
Antoine BarraudCinematography:
Antoine ParoutyComposer:
Bertrand BonelloCast:
Bertrand Bonello, Jeanne Balibar, Géraldine Pailhas, Joana Preiss, Pascal Greggory, Nicolas Maury, Barbet Schroeder, Nathalie Boutefeu, Marta Hoskins (more)Plots(1)
A Chinese aphorism says that although the poet dreams he is a butterfly, it is perhaps instead the butterfly that dreams it has become a poet. In Le dos rouge, a famous filmmaker played by Bertrand Bonello searches for an image of the uncanny. An eccentric female art historian accompanies him through museums, where they examine and discuss numerous works of art. A metamorphosis gradually takes place, as red marks appear on the filmmaker's back. It seems that gazing at all that monstrousness has brought about a transformation in the observer. Bonello, a victim of Stendhal Syndrome, gradually loses himself in his admiration of the sublime uncanny. When he is hypnotised by the artworks, he exudes a fascination as great as that of the objects themselves. It's a pleasure to watch one artist gazing at another, for this film is a multi-layered mise en abyme. By creating a fictional portrait of an aesthete, Barraud subtly allows the paintings to enter into a dialogue with his newly created images. Artificiality meets art, and during the search for the ideal monster, a playful, aesthetic spell is cast. (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
Bertrand Bonello
France
Best movies:
Le Pont des Arts (2004)
Jeanne Balibar
France
Best movies:
A Town Called Panic (2009)
The Sentinel (1992)
Who Knows (2001)
Géraldine Pailhas
France
Best movies:
The Adversary (2002)
Family Hero (2006)
Didine (2008)
Joana Preiss
France
Best movies:
Paris, I Love You (2006)
Close to Leo (2002) (TV movie)
In Paris (2006)
Pascal Greggory
France
Best movies:
No Time for Breakfast (1976)
La Vie en rose (2007)
Pauline at the Beach (1983)
Nicolas Maury
France
Best movies:
Let My People Go ! (2011)
Knife + Heart (2018)
Labor Day (2020)
Barbet Schroeder
Iran
Best movies:
Love on the Ground (1984)
Queen Margot (1994)
Six in Paris (1965)
Nathalie Boutefeu
France
Best movies:
A Secret (2007)
Irma Vep (1996)
Kings & Queen (2004)
Charlotte Rampling
UK
Best movies:
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Dune: Part One (2021)
The Damned (1969)
Isild Le Besco
France
Best movies:
My King (2015)
The Good Heart (2009)
Parting Shot, A (2007)
Brady Corbet
USA
Best movies:
Mysterious Skin (2004)
Funny Games (2007)
Force Majeure (2014)
Valérie Dréville
France
Best movies:
The Sentinel (1992)
My American Uncle (1980)
24 Hours in the Life of a Woman (2002)
Sigrid Bouaziz
Best movies:
Eden (2014)
Personal Shopper (2016)
The Night Eats the World (2018)