Demonlover

At some point during the making of Demonlover, released in 2002, writer-director Olivier Assayas apparently underwent a severe mental brainstorm. A movie that had been a bizarrely entertaining account of power play, female feuding and industrial espionage in the international business of hard-core 3-D anime porn movie production and distribution collapsed, chaotically.

Chapters and/or basic plotlines seemed lost or jumbled, characters changed from dominant to passive and vice versa, leading roles died or didn't, and the collage of French, American and Tokyo motifs and moods imploded, as if time- and mind-warped by the Japanese capital's kinetic, frenetic, psychedelic neon and naughtiness.

Initially, the self-proclaimed "technological neo-noir thriller" looks set to be a intriguing case of "New French Extremity". Globalisation, the Internet, pornography and women's rights form the narrative framework, stylishly performed by Charles Berling (mostly in French) and a trio of strong female executives (Connie Nielsen, Chloe Sevigny and Gina Gershon). The production designs, soundtrack, costumes and Japanese anime drawings are all admirable, technically. Cinematically, they add up to a pretentious waste of time.