Madonna's Filth and Wisdom: more like an explanation than a movie
Filth and Wisdom de Madonna: plus une explication qu'un film.
Madonna gets down and dirty
Pop star's directorial debut goes out of its way to justify debasing acts of sexual humiliation as a path to virtue
By Katherine Monk
December 19, 2008
FILTH AND WISDOM
Starring: Eugene Hutz, Holly Weston, Francesca Kingdon, Vicky McLure and Richard E. Grant
Directed by: Madonna
14A: coarse language, sexual content
Running time: 84 minutes
Rating: ffhoo
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Filth and Wisdom almost feels more like an explanation than a movie. Steeped in a simplified philosophy that embraces the bad as an inherent part of the good, and filth as the flip side of wisdom, Madonna's directorial debut goes out of its way to justify debasing and dehumanizing acts of sexual humiliation as the eventual path to virtue.
It's the kind of argument that went out of vogue with the Victorians, and their preoccupation with the archetype of the "fallen woman," but Madge has evidently found a course of reasoning that allows her to gloss over past glitches and ugly moments as character-building exercises towards enlightenment. Certainly, "enlightenment" was the first word that popped into mind when I flipped through her stainless-steel-bound Sex book way back when, and "epiphany" wasn't far behind when she locked lips with Britney Spears in a moment that continues to unravel on YouTube discussion threads.
Filth and Wisdom attempts to construct some meaningful context for these close encounters with the dark side.
Through some well-visualized scenes that prove Madonna's experience before the cameras have given her a good eye and a dependable dramatic instinct, we watch several people spiral downward before sprouting waxy wings.
For A.K. (Eugene Hutz), life has been a slow process of healing. Abused by his father and now forced to make cash by donning military costumes and humiliating hairy, pear-shaped men, A.K. is the one character who is most easily identifiable as Madonna's alter-ego because he also dreams of being a big, poetic pop sensation.
Sharing A.K.'s flat are two women with problems of their own: Holly (Holly Weston) and Juliette (Vicky McLure). Holly is a gifted ballet dancer, but she's not able to pay her rent with her toe shoes and turns to pole dancing for some quick cash. In a strange tip of the black derby to Britney, Madge uses Hit Me Baby One More Time as Holly's peeler theme -- and plays on Brit's schoolgirl sex appeal to define Holly's tools for seduction.
If you're not convinced by Madonna's "no spiritual pain -- no spiritual gain" argument by this point, the third plot will only make things more confusing.
Juliette is a pharmacist and med-school drop out with family problems and a domineering father. Throw in a sad sack author (Richard E. Grant) who's lost his sight to ensure we get some spoken word into the frame, and this grammar-school stab at Jean-Luc Godard has all the pretense you'd expect from someone desperate to look smart.
The dialogue, hand-crafted by Madge and her co-writer, Dan Cadan, has the feel of a teenage diarist looking to go deep, but continually comes off as a little shallow, if not altogether banal.
Then again, perhaps that's Madge's gift: To make the banal appear extraordinary.
It may not be the path to true enlightenment, but it's bound to make you feel better about being unremarkable -- as well as a little dirty.
Source: The Vancouver Sun.