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Review: Desire (2017) ★★★★

Desire movie 2017

&NewLine;<p>Diego Kaplan’s erotic thriller&comma; <em>Desire<&sol;em> or <em>Desearás al Hombre de Tu Hermana<&sol;em> &lpar;literally&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;You Desire Your Sister’s Man”&rpar;&comma; has been met with a certain degree of controversy since it was added to the Netflix library&period; The film was <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;indiewire&period;com&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;desire-netflix-backlash-child-pornography-masturbation-1201979559&sol;">allegedly reported to the FBI<&sol;a> for displaying inappropriate content&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Having seen the film&comma; I strongly disagree with this accusation&comma; but I also understand why someone might one particular scene excessive&period; Putting the controversy aside&comma; <em>Desire<&sol;em> is an exceptionally well-made film&comma; exploring the complex relationship between two feuding Argentine sisters&comma; whose sexual appetites &lpar;and those of their respective lovers&rpar; help fuel their hatred for one another&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Set around a rather bourgeois household in Argentina in the late 1960s&sol;early 1970s&comma; <em>Desire<&sol;em> opens with the now infamous scene of two sisters&comma; Ofelia and Lucia&comma; watching a television program&period; One of the girls imitates the cowboy she sees on screen&comma; pretending that her pillow is a horse&period; This innocent play inadvertently turns sexual&comma; causing her to collapse in exhaustion before her mother rushes to her aid&period; While somewhat shocking&comma; this scene is used as a precursor to the woman’s insatiable sexual desire in the future&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Following this introduction&comma; the story fast forwards to their adult years&period; The two sisters have become estranged&comma; but Ofelia &lpar;Carolina &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Pampita” Ardohain&rpar; returns to attend the wedding party for Lucia &lpar;Mónica Antonópulos&rpar; and her fiancee&comma; Juan &lpar;Juan Sorini&rpar;&period; Their mother&comma; Carmen &lpar;Andrea Frigerio&rpar; hosts the lavish party at her home on the beach&comma; where Juan first encounters Ofelia in his bedroom&comma; naked and shivering from jumping in the pool&period; Juan is instantly enamored with his sister-in-law&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;12&sol;bo6sDyChG4KRLMypeI6sUpD8XgT&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Desire 2017 dancing scene" class&equals;"wp-image-1747"&sol;><figcaption><em>Desire<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; Lucia&comma; enraged that her alcoholic and drug-addicted mother invited Ofelia&comma; criticizes Ofelia’s Brazilian fiancee&comma; Andres &lpar;Guilherme Winter&rpar; for acting boorish at her party&period; When Carmen falls into the pool due to tripping on LSD&comma; both Lucia and Ofelia jump in after her&comma; each desperate to one-up the other and prove themselves the superior daughter&period; As the days pass&comma; Ofelia and Lucia’s bitter competition escalates&comma; putting their respective relationships at risk&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Though Lucia is vital to the story&comma; she plays a secondary role to Ofelia&comma; both in the narrative and from the perspective of the audience&period; Pampita’s character functions as both the primary object of desire and the main driver of the plot&period; In essence&comma; she is a sex addict&comma; and a woman that attracts the attention of every man she meets&period; On the other hand&comma; Lucia&comma; who has found success and a husband that she loves&comma; lacks passion and vitality in comparison&period; This dichotomy between a sister with the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;perfect” life and a sister who lives her life to the fullest underscores their bitter rivalry&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>With a name like <em>Desire<&sol;em>&comma; one imagines a treat for the senses&comma; and Diego Kaplan’s film delivers&period; The wardrobe&comma; soundtrack&comma; hairstyles&comma; and sets all transport viewers to a different time and place&comma; specifically Argentina in the 1970s&period; The colors are bright&comma; the people are beautiful&comma; and the sex is passionate&period; More importantly&comma; the writing and performances all have the surreal feeling of a 1970s key party&period; Lust drives everything in the film&comma; but you can never really predict what each character will do next&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i0&period;wp&period;com&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;12&sol;0029247911&period;jpg&quest;fit&equals;800&percnt;2C450&amp&semi;ssl&equals;1" alt&equals;"Desire movie 2017" class&equals;"wp-image-1748"&sol;><figcaption><em>Desire<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Though some of the performances are unexceptional &lpar;Pampita is known more for her modeling than her acting skills&rpar;&comma; most of the cast does an admirable job&period; Each character exudes a certain degree of natural sexual bravado that makes this erotic thriller even more erotic than most&period; The cinematography combines the sensuality of a softcore film with the lighting&comma; staging&comma; and coloration of 70s European art cinema&period; This combination of disparate elements will likely make some viewers nostalgic for <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;09&sol;metzgers-women-gender-representations-and-visual-abstraction-in-60s-sexploitation&sol;">the better sexploitation films of the past<&sol;a>&period; Much like the films of Radley Metzger&comma; <em>Desire<&sol;em> often uses sensual filmmaking techniques and visuals to titillate the audience&comma; rather than explicit sex&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Netflix has remained loyal to the film&comma; despite the unnecessary controversy that arose&period; I’m glad that the company did not cave to pressure and pull <em>Desire<&sol;em> off of its platform&comma; as the film is a genuinely interesting and beautiful throwback to the era of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;free love&period;” Ultimately&comma; though not every viewer will agree&comma; the superior visuals and 1960s&sol;70s nostalgia more than compensate for the awkward and uncomfortable scenes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you’d like to watch <em>Desire<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;&comma; it is currently available to stream on <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;netflix&period;com">Netflix<&sol;a>&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;

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