Best known for his subversive erotic thriller Secret Things, Jean-Claude Brisseau is one of French cinema’s best-kept secrets. The director’s hallmark is a sensual and magical-surrealist interpretation of cinematic realism—perhaps closer to what critic Frédéric Bonnaud calls, in Film Comment, an “anti-social realism.” Brisseau’s genre-defying, atypical, and morally ambiguous works may jump between different styles and genres but they often come to rest on the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. From the sexual to the familial (and often crossing the two), how people relate to each other becomes, in his cinema, a route into dissecting wider societal relations and power imbalances brought on by gender, age, or class.
We’re spotlighting the French director’s distinctive cinema with this double bill of films exploring his challenging and contrarian worldview. White Wedding, starring Vanessa Paradis in her first film role as a ravishing seductress, brought Brisseau to the attention of a much wider audience. Whereas A Brutal Game tells a bleak yet powerful story about a father-daughter relationship. Both ravishing and strange, Brisseau’s cinema is nothing short of captivating.

Best known for his subversive erotic thriller Secret Things, Jean-Claude Brisseau is one of French cinema&#8217;s best-kept secrets. The director&#8217;s hallmark is a sensual and magical-surrealist interpretation of cinematic realism&#8212;perhaps closer to what critic Frédéric Bonnaud calls, in Film Comment, an &#8220;anti-social realism.&#8221; Brisseau&#8217;s genre-defying, atypical, and morally ambiguous works may jump between different styles and genres but they often come to rest on the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. From the sexual to the familial (and often crossing the two), how people relate to each other becomes, in his cinema, a route into dissecting wider societal relations and power imbalances brought on by gender, age, or class.
We&#8217;re spotlighting the French director&#8217;s distinctive cinema with this double bill of films exploring his challenging and contrarian worldview. White Wedding, starring Vanessa Paradis in her first film role as a ravishing seductress, brought Brisseau to the attention of a much wider audience. Whereas A Brutal Game tells a bleak yet powerful story about a father-daughter relationship. Both ravishing and strange, Brisseau&#8217;s cinema is nothing short of captivating.

Jean-Claude Brisseau’s Anti-Social Realism: A Double Bill

JEAN-CLAUDE BRISSEAU’S ANTI-SOCIAL REALISM: A DOUBLE BILL

Jean-Claude Brisseau’s hallmark is a sensual, magic-surrealist take on realism. This double bill dives into the French director’s challenging and contrarian films, which prove nothing short of captivating.

Jean-Claude Brisseau&#8217;s hallmark is a sensual, magic-surrealist take on realism. This double bill dives into the French director&#8217;s challenging and contrarian films, which prove nothing short of captivating.