Water Drops on Burning Rocks (Francois Ozon, 1999)

I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again: I just don't get Francois Ozon. He makes visually gorgeous films, that's for certain, but there's always a little something missing for me. This same principle applies to Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Ozon's interpretation of an unproduced early Fassbinder play about an older man who seduces a younger boy into leaving his fiancee. Their relationship soon turns into one of the most dysfunctional I've seen on film, but instead of being interesting, it is natural, commonplace dysfunction, which actually isn't interesting at all, just annoying. Franz (the boy) and Leopold (the older man who is apparently irresistable, for some reason I couldn't see) finally fight until Franz is ready to leave, and his ex-fiancee Anna (Ludivine Sagnier, who spends most of her time onscreen naked) comes to take him back, but once she meets Leopold, and Leopold's ex Vera comes in to the picture, all bets are off. The scene is set for a sex farce, one would assume, but it then just becomes more of the grating same. There is a dance scene that is truly fantastic - funny and visually very cool - but that's about it. The results of this four-way are tragic, but not really because no one in the movie actually cares. Well, I didn't really care, either. Everything about the movie is so detached and commonplace, while the actions are so audacious and colorful that the two just don't meet at any enjoyable place. Again, Ozon has made a beautiful film, but one that is not the sum of it's parts. When will I understand this Ozon phenomenon? 5/10

Stumble It!