Love and sex from “inside” in The Sentiment of the Flesh

by Michela Greco

04/11/2010 - After having worked with directors such as Marco Ferreri and Roman Polanski, assistant editor Roberto Garzelli makes his directorial debut with The Sentiment of the Flesh [trailer] and immediately aims high, calling to mind another film great, David Cronenberg.

It’s hard not to think of Crash in the story of Héléna (Annabelle Hettman), who studies medical drawing, and Benoit (Thibault Vinçon), a radiology professor, who meet during an exam and discover they share an unusual passion for internal organs.

This passion is all-consuming, perverse and thus dangerous, which they share in love and sex. Tense and disturbing, and thus intriguing, The Sentiment of the Flesh – produced by Stella Films and sold internationally by Colifilms Distribution – takes claustrophobia to the extreme, remaining glued to the two characters, in their houses and bodies, then gets lost in morbid voyeurism, to end, coherently, in an aesthetic operating room.

The film will be released domestically on December 15 by Zelig.