Trouble Every Day (film)
A controversial 2001 erotic horror film by Claire Denis.
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The film is associated with the New French Extremity movement and polarized critics at its 2001 Cannes premiere, with many booing or walking out.[1] It later developed a small cult following who admire its existential themes and unique take on horror and gender roles.[2]
Making and release
Claire Denis first met Vincent Gallo in 1989 while working on a short film in New York.[3] While filming Beau Travail, Denis resumed work on the screenplay with Jean-Pol Fargeau.[3] She planned from the outset to give the lead roles to Vincent Gallo and Béatrice Dalle.[3] Denis sought to create a permanent feeling of danger and anxiety, drawing inspiration from photographer Jeff Wall's works.[4]
She gave books of Wall's photographs to cinematographer Agnès Godard to help create the desired atmosphere.[4] Two women in the audience fainted due to the film's violence, requiring an ambulance to be called.[5] A TV network proposed that Denis create a horror movie with a nighttime urban setting featuring Gallo.[3] Although that specific film was never made, Denis continued to think about making a gory movie.[3]
The 2001 Cannes Film Festival included Trouble Every Day as an out-of-competition screening.[6]
What the cited sources add
Melissa Anderson notes that the film premiered in New York in 2002 on a single small screen at the Quad to largely hostile reviews.[7] Denis co-scripted the film with her frequent writing partner Jean-Pol Fargeau, and worked with cinematographer Agnès Godard.[7] The BFI account states that the film split critics who were surprised Denis followed Beau Travail with a visceral genre foray.[8] That same account notes a troubling contradiction: the male cannibal Shane functions in society while committing heinous acts.[8]
Anderson reports that James Quandt's influential Artforum essay condemned Trouble Every Day as an exemplar of "New French Extremity".[7] Anderson calls the film "supremely hypnotic, unsettling".[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Trouble Every Day (film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gibbons, "Cannes audience left open-mouthed", The Guardian, 2001-05-14 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Trouble Every Day (film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chaw, "Trouble Every Day", Film Freak Central, 20 July 2022; "ArtForum: Flesh & blood: sex and violence in recent French cinema", www.findarticles.com; Anderson, "Blood Work: A Reevaluation of Trouble Every Day - Journal", Metrograph, 2020-07-10; "Pleasures and pains of the flesh: women, physical autonomy and the New French Extremity", BFI, 2022-05-17; Keogan, "Trouble Every Day's Slow, Cerebral Cannibalism", Paste Magazine, 30 November 2021 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Trouble Every Day (film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Claire Denis - Leçons de ténèbre", Les Inrockuptibles, July 3, 2001; "Human Predations", Libération, August 6, 2001; "Quit or "Trouble"", Libération, July 11, 2001; "How to always go further?", Libération, July 11, 2001; "Claire Denis - Leçons de ténèbre", Les Inrockuptibles, July 3, 2001; "Trouble Every Day", Télérama, July 14, 2001; "How to always go further?", Libération, July 11, 2001 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Trouble Every Day (film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "How to always go further?", Libération, July 11, 2001 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Trouble Every Day (film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Press, "Twenty years of Trouble Every Day (2001)", Liverpool University Press Blog, 2021-08-06; "Charlie Brownlee- Trouble Every Day (2001) Review: Claire Denis' Horror Romance is a Gory, Polarizing Portrait of Carnal Love and Desire Aspect: Journal of Film and Screen Media", aspectfilmjournal.web.unc.edu (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Trouble Every Day (film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Festival de Cannes: Trouble Every Day", festival-cannes.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Anderson, "Blood Work: A Reevaluation of Trouble Every Day - Journal", Metrograph, 2020-07-10. facts only, no text reused. metrograph.com
- "Pleasures and pains of the flesh: women, physical autonomy and the New French Extremity", BFI, 2022-05-17. facts only, no text reused. bfi.org.uk
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Trouble Every Day (film) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Trouble Every Day (film) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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