SYNOPSICS
Vénus noire (2010) is a French,Afrikaans,English,Dutch movie. Abdellatif Kechiche has directed this movie. Yahima Torres,Andre Jacobs,Olivier Gourmet,Elina Löwensohn are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2010. Vénus noire (2010) is considered one of the best Drama,History movie in India and around the world.
The story of Saartjes Baartman, a Black domestic who, in 1808, left Southern Africa, then ruled by Dutch settlers, for Europe, following her boss Hendrick Caesar , hoping to find fame and fortune there. Once in London her master turned manager does nothing but exhibit her as a freak in a phony and humiliating carnival show. After a series of troubles caused by their act, Caesar, Saartje and their new friend, bear-tamer Réaux, head for Paris where once again, and against her will, she has to mimic savagery and expose her body, first in carnivals, then in the aristocratic salons of Paris, later on among the libertines and finally in brothels where she ends up being a prostitute. In the meantime, French anatomists will have taken an interest in her unusual anatomy (enormous buttocks and labia) only to declare her the missing link from ape to man. In 1815, aged only 27, she dies alone, of a combination of pneumonia and venereal disease.
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Vénus noire (2010) Reviews
A Difficult True Story to Tell Done Well
This film is NOT for the faint of heart. Nothing is censored, just the bare naked (literally) truth. Black Venus tells the true story of Sarah (Baptized name) Baartman, a South African woman of Khoisan descent who in the early 19th century was led on false pretenses of fame and fortune to England only to be exploited for her body. I watched this film with a basic understanding of Sarah's biography. With this in mind, I am a little surprised that the film didn't get a higher rating. Yes, it is difficult to watch. Yes, it shows exploitation and abuse at its finest (if that's even the correct word to use here). Yes, there is shocking and pornographic scenes that are not suitable for the faint of heart. Yes, you will be disgusted. But you should be. This is a very accurate portrayal of what happened to the true "Venus of Hottentot." She was exploited for her body, people paid to touch her buttocks and her genitalia was a matter of scientific intrigue. This movie is not a pleasant watch, but the topic itself is not a pleasant truth. This is a dark side of history that is difficult to explore, and the director and the main actress do a wonderful job of portraying it as such. History buffs, this film is for you - especially if you are interested in African/Women's history. For the faint of heart, avoid this film - and for the curious, make sure you know fully well what you're getting into.
A story to be told but a shocking one!!!
With "Vénus noire"Abdellatif Kechiche tells the story of Sarah Baartman, an African born from the Khoisan Tribe who was a slave of a Dutch farmer. She went with the brother of her slave owner on an Exhibition, a "Freak" Tour in England with the promise of a wealthy future. Then Sarah Baartman was sold to a Frenchman, who took her to his country. An animal trainer, Réaux, exhibited her under more pressured conditions for fifteen months. Overall Sarah Baartman was exhibited around Britain and France from 1810 to 1815, entertaining people by exposing her nude buttocks and her highly unusual bodily features. She had large buttocks and the elongated labia of some Khoisan women. Towards the end of her life she became the subject of several scientific paintings at the Jardin du Roi, where she was examined in March 1815 by George Cuvier, head keeper of the menagerie at the musée national d'Histoire naturelle. Seek and forgotten by the Parisians, she began to drink heavily and supported herself with prostitution in brothel and then in the streets. She died of an undetermined inflammatory ailment on December 29, 1815. Even after her Death her body continued to be exploited by others and her skeleton, preserved genitals and brain were placed on display in Paris' musée de l'Homme until 1974. In 1994 President Nelson Mandela formally requested that France return the remains and it's only in 2002, May the 6th that her remains were repatriated to her homeland and were buried on August 9 of the same year. Obviously this dramatic and terrible story is not for everyone and I strongly suggest the most emotionally fragile people among us to read about the Sarah Baartman's story instead of watching Abdellatif Kechiche's film. "Vénus noire" remains an interesting film as Sarah Baartman's story is to be told so that we understand how Difference, the fear of it, the non understanding of it can trigger the most inhuman sentiment, which lies in the darkest place of our soul in one word: Racism. However in 2 hours and 40 minutes, Abdellatif Kechiche abuses the audience with too many despicable scenes, too many scenes of dehumanization and degradation. So many that you find yourself in a overdose state. At some point I wanted to leave the Theater. I didn't pay to "look" but Abdellatif Kechiche places the audience in a voyeurism sit that makes you so uncomfortable your eyes flee the screen searching for the blackness of the Theater room. Even if there is a reason for us to be gradually placed within different environments so we understand that racism isn't bound to a Country or a social class it is still very tough to keep absorbing shocking images on a continuous basis. We are transported from the vulgar and popular crowd of London to the vicious and decadent Bourgeoisie of Paris and eventually to a so called scientific experiment. One can easily draw the conclusion that whatever form of Racism we are confronted to, none of them is humanly or intellectually acceptable. In fact all of them are profoundly revolting. Beside its heavy content and shocking scenes that for sure will polarize the audience, the film is also served with an outstanding cast. The main actress Yahima Torres is very convincing in a very difficult role. But all actors (Andre Jacobs, Olivier Gourmet) display skills in their respective interpretation, skills that trigger emotions, we hate, we curse, we're ashamed, we're shocked and we're upset during 2h40 of cinematic maelstrom.
Venus = Christ?
Was this film 3 hours long or fourteen? Kechiche takes us across borders (Africa / Europe, Dead / Living, Savage / Civilized) in a movie that has the gravitas and sensual weight of a kind of stations of the cross. The "Venus" is our Christ, suffering for and as the direct result of our sins, chief among those the blindness we call racism. Potently, even explosively mixed with virulent sexism, racism shapes the ever more horrible experience of the film's subject, as she is reduced (figuratively and then literally) to an object. The film is gorgeous, infinitely wise about the costs of being marked (trapped in the legibly different body), smart about the role that money plays in the ongoing betrayal (if Judas saw this film he'd really feel rooked: the point is not to sell out Christ, the point is how many times you can--for an increasing price--take trust to market), and worth every minute of horrified attention. Then--you ask-- why an "8"? Of course we are (as the film is eager to point out), as spectators, aligned with all those who want to look at this...complicated site of excitements--but we are also (in tight close-up for the tears that always start in Yahima Torres' left eye) vaguely miserable with her (growling at the end of a chain is okay, being touched is--at first--not) and then...nowhere. Who was she? What did she (aside from bright red leather gloves and a tres joli hat) want? There's something about this film, in other words, that seems just about as hard and cold and stiff as the plaster cast of the Hottentot, which seems always just on the verge of coming to life.
Extraordinary Film about an Extraordinary Woman
I finally watched this movie earlier today with a sorrowful heart after first hearing about it a couple of years ago. hard to get it here in Indonesia on DVD, finally got it on two split You Tube downloads. Yes this is not a film for the faint hearted, it is extremely graphic and harsh in its direction to say the least and certainly long at 2 hours 40 minutes (comparable with the Hobbit which I saw on new Years Eve). The film is an artistic portrayal of a dignified South African tribal woman who is abused and misled once she arrives first to England and then later to Paris. However, it lacks artistic direction and balance. Not a contradiction in terms exactly. for example, the opening scene shows her being exhibited in a medical seminar and the end of the movie displays her physical remains which would later be put in a Paris Musueum. My point is that the Director could have taken more attention to detail and put the lady into a greater prospective, perhaps a prequel to the main part of the story (the recent Johnny Depp movie 'Dark shadows" a case in point) showing the lady in her tribal land and how she met the Doctor before arriving to England. The explanation in the movie is all too bland and passed over for the most part. The same applied for the ending although there were some explanatory subtitles and compensating visual glimpses of when she was returned to South Africa. What we see in this film is no different from what still goes on in our world today but in a different way. We go-global in order to see the very thing that this humble woman was subjected to and we pay to see it, sometimes on the internet - animals as well as humans - and it is only perhaps in western countries that there are anti-voice against the abuse in circuses. We should watch this film and want to be shocked. Unlike the spectators shown throughout the film, we have the benefit of a greater education and enhanced knowledge but abuse such as Saartje Baartman is shown to endure in the movie, goes on to this day. There was a lack of cohesion at times in the transition from going London to Paris and then later when Saartje found herself in the Brothels. Yes, she drank and smoked and was inevitably sensitive and temperamental given her real life role play but this is indeed an extraordinary film about an extraordinary woman who is extraordinary for her courage and determination and not so unordinary from any other woman except for her buttocks and her labia, according to the medical scientists. I certainly enjoyed this film more than the "Hobbit' which bored the pants off me (except for the special effects) and yes 'Venus Noire' is slow and often repetitive but I can share empathy with the Director and in an unkind, cruel, uncomfortable way, this is entertainment. On a general note, there is no swearing or offensive violence, despite the harsh treatment Saartje Baartman endured while away from South Africa. Yes, she is mostly naked for large sections of the film and there are a couple of later scenes in Paris where she is in a sexual situation but apart from that, this is not a film for a sexual voyeur and don't expect to see flashes of an unusually large labia because you will not. The standard of acting in this film is excellent. I may be wrong here but this is a French film and so good sub-titles in English or language of your choice are important. I suggest that there are a lot of other movies out there who will shock and offend you a whole lot more than this one.
great cinematic and acting performance
I couldn't disagree more with those who say that they have been abused for three hours. Yes, the film is hard to swallow; yes, a number of scenes are degrading. But, the plot is not so straightforward as some say. In fact, some characters grow more complex than they seem to be at first sight and there is a distinct gradation in the way people (i.e. : the characters who watch the show, not the spectators in the cinema) react to the exhibition of this woman. It could even be argued that the higher we move in society, the more unpleasant and distasteful their reactions become, to culminate with the absolute callousness of the leading scientists of the time. But discussing the content of the film might lead us to forget its essential quality : it is a stunning piece of cinema and especially so in the most unpalatable scenes. It might be added that, besides the performance of the leading actress, another performer could well deserve an Oscar or a prize wherever that film will be shown : Olivier Gourmet, usually an excellent actor, delivers here a world-class performance (in three languages, mind you!)