Knife + Heart is a proper giallo film, which should delight fans of the genre. It's not an exercise in style, although it is stylish. It's not a deconstruction of the tropes, although it flips things around by having victims that are almost entirely male. It's not playing anything for laughs, or meta moments, although it has a wonderful sense of playfulness, thanks to the setting.
It's Paris. It's 1979. Anne Parèze is a director of gay porn films. She's also struggling to deal with a separation from her partner, and editor, Loïs (Kate Moran). And things get a lot worse when a killer starts targeting a number of the men that she works with. Who is it? What is his motivation? Will anything stop Anne from making her movies?
The second feature film from director Yann Gonzalez, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Cristiano Mangione, this is a near-perfect example of how to rework a familiar checklist of genre staples within a framework that manages to be familiar and enjoyably subversive at the same time. The impressive audio and visual work helps immensely, because we all know that the better gialli were more concerned with style and set-pieces than anything pesky like plausibility or logic, but arguably the biggest plus point here is that everything is played completely straight (no pun intended).
The cast all do well in their roles. Paradis seems made for this central role, she could have stepped out of any 1970s film in this mould, but she's given strong support from Moran, Nicholas Maury (as Archibald, her main co-worker/cohort), Khaled Alouach (one of the stars of the film within a film, his character utilising that trope of being someone who strongly resembles someone else), and Pierre Pirol, who brings a surprising heart to a role that could have easily been clumsy or comedic (he's "the golden mouth" brought in to help stars . . . get ready to perform).
A heady mix of sexuality, mental health issues, and stylish and bloody deaths, Knife + Heart is the kind of movie I would love to see more of. You will know whether or not it is for you within the first 10-15 minutes, which features an absolutely stunning opening murder. It feels authentic without having to point out every little detail and act smug about everything it is getting right (a fault that we have all seen occur in some other movies), and I believe that you could show this to someone, claiming it was a previously lost film that has now been rediscovered, and they would believe you.
Remove seven points from my rating if you're a homophobe, but also then remove yourself from this page. Many thanks.
8/10
There's A disc available here, but more options should be available in a few months.
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