Knife + Heart

  • 110'
  • France
  • 2018

One by one, the bit-part actors in Anne's homoerotic porn films are being killed by a masked murderer. The police seem uninterested, so Anne (Vanessa Paradis) starts to investigate the murders herself. In the meantime, she mourns for her fractured relationship with Loïs, who works as an editor on her films.

In Knife + Heart, set in 1979, Yann Gonzalez pays playful homage to the homo porn shot on 16mm in the 1970s. In one deliciously spicy scene, Anne's experiences at the police station are re-enacted in the police porn flick Homocidal, which we see being shot in the studio. Connoisseurs will spot many painstaking recreations of 1970s gay bars, night clubs and darkrooms. Like in La chatte à deux têtes by Jacques Nolot – who has a cameo here – the climax takes place in a porn cinema. Using extravagant colour filters and dream sequences, Gonzalez also nods to the giallo films of Dario Argento. The striking synth score is by M83.

Director
Yann Gonzalez
Countries of production
France, Mexico
Year
2018
Festival Edition
IFFR 2019
Length
110'
Medium
DCP
Original title
Un couteau dans le coeur
Language
French
Producer
Charles Gillibert
Production Company
CG Cinema
Sales
Kinology
Screenplay
Yann Gonzalez, Cristiano Mangione
Cinematography
Simon Beaufils
Editor
Raphaël Lefèvre
Production Design
Sidney Dubois
Music
M83
Cast
Vanessa Paradis, Kate Moran, Nicolas Maury, Jonathan Genet, Khaled Alouach, Félix Maritaud, Bertrand Mandico
Director
Yann Gonzalez
Countries of production
France, Mexico
Year
2018
Festival Edition
IFFR 2019
Length
110'
Medium
DCP
Original title
Un couteau dans le coeur
Language
French
Producer
Charles Gillibert
Production Company
CG Cinema
Sales
Kinology
Screenplay
Yann Gonzalez, Cristiano Mangione
Cinematography
Simon Beaufils
Editor
Raphaël Lefèvre
Production Design
Sidney Dubois
Music
M83
Cast
Vanessa Paradis, Kate Moran, Nicolas Maury, Jonathan Genet, Khaled Alouach, Félix Maritaud, Bertrand Mandico