Nuit #1 will
probably be best known for the graphic, real-time sex scene that opens the
film, because it is the only moment that has any semblance of humanity. Ironic, too, given how the film is
about the inherent loneliness of hook-up culture. This much is obvious because, after the aforementioned scene,
is an hour plus of unsubtle monologues spoken between the two central
characters, Clara (Catherine de Lean) and Nikolai (Dimitri Storoge).
Nikolai is a depressed, self-loathing,
unemployed "artist" who is openly unsettled by his participation in random sex
acts, even though he is consciously too unstable to take part in a
relationship. Clara is an
elementary school teacher who uses her sexuality as a, surprise, replacement
for actual feelings and dedicates most of her screen time to shaming herself
and actually saying how hard it is to look into the eyes of children after
having had, gasp, sex. Ugh.
Not that there's not something to be said about the
disconnected nature of these seemingly random sex acts at all, but Anne Emond's
film is mostly an excuse for her to put words into the mouths of ciphers. It's a community theater where two
clearly talented actors audition instead of perform. Whatever Emond's intention was, the only time in the film
that Nikolai and Clara seem to be speaking to each other is during the sex
act. Everything else is a first
draft stream-of-consciousness.
Next time, Edmond should make a film.
