“Liberté” – Movie Review

On the opening weekend of the 57th New York Film Festival, I attended the U.S. premiere of the new historical drama, “Liberté”, written and directed by Albert Serra.

Synopsis

During the 18th century, libertine members of the French upper crust gather in a forest clearing overnight to have an orgy.  

Review

Normally, there is a detailed story description following the synopsis in these movie reviews.  There is no such story description here because there’s literally nothing to describe; the synopsis pretty much says it all.  Above and beyond that, there’s no plot, no structure, no story. Combine that with the fact that the sex in these scenes is more weird than erotic and you wind up with a pretty boring movie.  “Liberte” serves as an excellent reminder that if you’re going to throw an orgy, make sure you hire a good caterer – because after the unusual sex, there’s nothing much that’s of interest here. 

The fact that it’s outdoors at night obviously poses a problem; everything is so dark that it’s sometimes difficult to discern exactly what is going on.  Come to think of it, at times, that might actually be a blessing. Some shots are better left unseen. When you have a movie as wild and unconventional as this one certainly is, you can be forgiven for assuming some of the action is crazier than what is actually happening in any given scene.  It’s one thing to be unorthodox and unconventional, but by the time the film has concluded, you had better make sure that the audience will feel that it was worth putting up with.        

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Albert Serra.  Talking about the shoot itself, Serra said that the schedule was difficult for many people.  Since the movie takes place overnight, they had to film from 9:00PM until 5:00AM. He tried to make an avant-garde movie that felt something like a psychedelic trip.  The film was shot using three cameras and all of the actors were present for every day of the shoot but not all of them were necessarily used. This wound up creating a great deal of tension on the set.  Serra added that this motion picture was about a group of lost people who alternate between being exhibitionists and voyeurs.