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The premise of "Both Sides of the Blade," which
premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, may not be
entirely original, but for director Claire Denis, her film is
distinguished by its adult, unflinching approach to a
menage-a-trois and a refusal to apportion blame.
"That was the film's angle," she told a news conference. "We
weren't going to judge them. We weren't going to reject them. We
were with them."
Juliette Binoche plays Sara, an accomplished radio journalist
whose life with retired rugby player Jean (Vincent Lindon) is
complete. While she interviews the world's oppressed for her
show, he potters happily and does the shopping.
In the evenings they return to their beloved flat on Paris's Rue
d'Amsterdam, a welcoming space that suddenly turns close and
oppressive when Francois (Gregoire Colin) reappears in their
lives.
As sly and intriguing as Jean is open and gentle, Francois is
Sara's former lover, and the two men are also former friends and
business partners. Soon, the protagonists start leaving the room
to take hushed phone calls.
Denis said filming this part of the film took a psychological
toll, the crew shattered after filming Sara and Jean's final
row.
But, according to Binoche, it is crucial not to cast that sudden
change as a failure of the marriage. Rather, she said, the film
says this needs to be acknowleged as a reality.
"You're obsessed by him, by this person, you are your needs of
having him inside you as a woman, it becomes like a need that is
so big," she said. "There's nothing psychological about it. It's
visceral."
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Swantje Stein; Editing by Angus
MacSwan)
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