Love + Revenge + Rebellion: The Faces of Knife + Heart

It is been 14 years since the first slasher movie centered on LGBT characters were introduced called Hellbent. Since then, there haven’t been any slasher movies on LGBT characters till last year. In 2018, Knife + Heart (Un couteau dans le coeur) entered the scene in French cinema as the first giallo movie centered on LGBT characters. Film scholar and filmmaker, Michael Mackenzie defined Giallo as the male-focused side of the Italian horror genre where it explores twisty crime plots with grisly violence placed in stylish locations with gorgeous actors. So, Knife + Heart surprised us by introducing a serial killer who targets porn actors from a gay porn studio in 1979 Paris. As I took the time to watch twice this movie, I was impressed and moved by how the movie tackle deep subjects of the LGBT community in the 1970s. Through this analysis, I will talk not just about the plot but also its aesthetics.

Directed by Yann Gonzalez and written by Yann Gonzalez and Cristiano Mangione, the movie takes place in Paris 1979 inside a gay porn studio. Anne (Vanessa Paradis) is the director who is struggling financially in paying her actors. To add, she’s trying to cope with alcohol her breakup with her girlfriend Lois (Kate Moran) who works as the film editor of Anne. Anne’s best friend and actor Archibald (Nicolas Maury) is trying to maintain a good environment for the actors while they are shooting Anne’s next film. In the opening scene, the studio’s first actor, Karl (Bastien Waultier)is dancing in a nightclub and spots another who has leather mask. As the man with the leather mask goes isolates himself to another room, Karl follows him there. As both men meet up, they begin to hookup which leads them to Karl being tied down to his bed while the stranger takes a dildo which its converted as a switchblade. Karl is severely stabbed in his rectum while the strange is accompanied by a bird. The loss of Karl forces Anne to find another actor. With Archibald’s help, Anne finds young miner Nans (Khaled Alouach)who resembles a previous actor. Anne is also talking with the police about Karl’s death but doesn’t receive any help. Anne realizes that she wants to make a noir porn movie centered on Karl’s death much to the dismay of several crew members. To make matters worse, the killer murders another actor, Thierry (Felix Maritaud) while he injects himself heroin. The whole studio is now frightened by the murders and the police’s failure to protect them. Still confident, Anne hires four more actors to continue filming the movie (Anal Fury) which she renames it as Homocidal. Afraid and confused by Anne’s reaction, the crew manages to finish its movie and celebrate with a picnic in a forest. During the picnic, Anne is visited by Lois to try to reconcile their relationship but are interrupted by a storm. As the actors and crew try to escape, an actor, Misia (Thibault Serviere) gets lost in the forest. This stages the opportunity for the killer to murder Misia. In a manic state, Anne tries to reconcile with Lois that eventually ends in disaster as Anne assaults Lois. However, the killer spots them alongside its bird which interrupts Anne and Lois. Lois runs away from Anne, leaving her deeply devastated. After three heinous deaths, Anne tries to convince the police to protect them, but the police refuse it. However, an officer offers Anne a help by giving her a clue of each crime scene which is a bird feather that was left behind alongside the corpses. Anne and Archibald contact a pet shop to encounter more clues about the feather. Anne travels to the pet shop where she shows the feather to the owner and its employee. She’s told that the feather belongs to a specimen of blind birds who takes the soul of a corpse and sends it to a far away place. Anne is told the place where the birds are located. Anne travels to a small town where its forest has the blind birds. Anne also reads a letter from Lois telling her that she has become a monster and doesn’t want to see her, preferably dead. In the forest, Anne spots a cemetery where a lonely woman is grieving. As Anne talks with the woman, the woman tells her that her son Guy Favre (Jonathan Genet) when he was young, he had a forbidden romance with his friend, Hicham (Teymour El Attar). After the couple had sex in a barn, Guy’s father spotted them and murdered Hicham, then castrated Guy and burned the barn. Guy’s mother tells Anne that Guy is alive and went to live in the city. As Anne is piecing the puzzles, she receives from a friend in her room newspaper clippings of Guy’s murder. Understanding how to make a trap for Guy, Anne tells his crew to film another scene with Archibald as the main actor. Meanwhile, Lois is editing the latest scene from Homicidal where she spots the killer being there. Lois calls a friend to take to Anne’s shooting and save her. Back at the shooting, the film doesn’t make any progress which leads to a little improvising by making mini-blackouts. As these unfold, Guy appears and murders actor Luis (Noé Hernández) and proceeds to murder Anne. Unfortunately, Lois arrives and intervenes causing her to receive a stab by Guy. Lois dies in Anne’s arms as Guy escapes. Sometime later at an adult movie theater, Homocidal is releasing which Anne and Nans witnessing it. Guy is also there seating nearby to Nans. As the film ends, another of Anne’s classic movies is played which surprises to Anne when she sees the murdered actors: Karl, Thierry, Misia, and Luis starting in an inspirational recreation of Guy’s tragic story. Anne realizes that Guy wants revenge by murdering all the actors who played in the film including the director. However, Anne realizes that Hicham was portrayed by a similar actor like Nans physical. While Anne tries to find Nans, he and Guy are in a cruising room. In there, Guy envisions Nans as Hicham and cries. Nans spots before Guy takes his knife. Anne arrives at the room and stops Guy. Guy takes another man hostage and runs to another movie screening where he’s stopped by the audience where someone yells at him “Get off on killing fags?” Various gay men rush towards Guy and kill him as a payback for the fear he created for the LGBT community. In a flashback, it is revealed Guy and Hicham’s tragic love story with the addition that the blind birds revived a disfigured Guy and suffered amnesia. Guy went to live in Paris where he suffered several visions of Hicham which later was triggered when he watched Anne’s movie. The film ends with Anne shooting her latest movie and reconciling with Lois’s ghost.

Knife + Heart became the most amazing and important queer horror movie that explored romance, revenge, and revolution during an important time period in queer history. Examining the main characters: Anne, Lois, Guy, and Archibald, each one portrays splendid and complex traits. First, Anne is deeply angered and sad amid her troubled breakup with Lois that leads to be more bitter and alcoholic as a method to cope with her breakup. However, she becomes obsessed with Lois and tries to win by her films and career determination that eventually backfires amid the murders. It gets worst when she assaults Lois in her manic state thinking that Lois is the only thing she has to live which she doesn’t get it. With Lois dead, Anne continues to move forward while remembering Lois and forgive her for all the damages she made. Anne is also very determinant as a director and producer of gay porn films and tries everything she can to bring more money and creativity to the table without thinking about consequences or the actor’s needs. Anne might seem damaged and impulsive but is very confident with the work she does and succeeds. As for Lois, being a film editor, she sees all of Anne’s work and tries to separate her personal life with her work. However, she cannot get off Anne’s image from her mind but still tries to help her finish her films no matter her feelings for her. After the tense breakup and learning the killer’s target on Anne, Lois rushes to save her even though she wanted her dead after the assault. This costed Lois’s life, freeing her from the abusive relationship of Anne. Lois is a person who’s trying to achieve a new better life plus supporting Anne’s work, making her a kind person who just wanted peace. For Archibald, he is the studio’s best friend by helping and create a friendly environment with the cast and crew no matter the tension that Anne presses on them. Archibald is very helpful when providing Anne the necessary needs to pursue the killer. This makes him as one of the kindest members of the studio. Finally, the antagonist, Guy Favre is the most tragic and somewhat sympathetic character in the movie. Guy’s backstory is terrifying since it is the death of his lover, Hicham at the hands of his father. Guy was severely scarred by being castrated and left burned. He survived thanks to the blind birds with extraordinary powers that eventually revive him and gave him a second chance. However, his trauma began to come back via Hicham’s memories and finally by Anne’s adult film when he watches it in Paris. This serve as the detonator to ignite its rage by seeing his trauma being exploited and vowed to silence it. Silencing the people who indirectly made the film was a good way to stop his suffering. Unfortunately, he brought fear to the community by making his killings a parallel to the homophobia that kill his body and Hicham. Guy didn’t know how his terrible actions will cause a community to live in fear and even spark a rebellion when several gay men took their power to destroy him, ending the nightmare. Guy wanted only to be with Hicham but couldn’t escape his terrors which started a cycle that ended with him. His story began with love, transformed by hatred, revive by vengeance, and ended with justice. Guy Favre is a perfect example of how an innocent person can be transformed into a monster after suffering extensive hatred in his life.

Knife + Heart brought incredibly 1970s aesthetics while leading to the 1980s. The juxtaposition of the LGBT community with Neon art, brought me a retrofuturist world solely for LGBT people. This is amazing since retrofuturism is very diverse, but seeing it with queer people makes it more familiar and empowering; even though the film doesn’t offer Sci-Fi aesthetics. It is like these two cultures clash to make a home where they can live freely and transcend time and space. On top of that, the score of M83 is essential and perfectly match for this movie that provides an environment of discovery that our community faces.

Regarding the film’s themes, revenge is the main dish that is paving this movie since the beginning. However, as the plot unfolds, everything changes by including a developed and emotional love story and finally introducing a rebellion as the final twist of the film. Homophobia and fear are the main adversaries which puts Guy as its conduit. Guy was marked and became a monster due to homophobia. His actions created a fear among the community which accompanied the denial of protection that queer people requested from the police. As we hear a police officer’s words “it’s not a priority”, its clearly understood that the LGBT community is seen defenseless and worthy of its punishment. As terrifying it sounds, the film takes place in the 1970s and paving its way to the 1980s. Both decades of fear and hatred that society made for LGBT people across America and then seen worldwide with homophobia and aids as the two acts of Man and God punishing the existence of the queer people. However, the film offers hope in its emotional and great ending twist when Guy is killed by a group of gay men inside an adult theater. When a member tells Guy “Get off on killing fags?” and approaches him with other gay men this is the spark of a rebellion against homophobia and fear. This spark parallels with the spark of the Stonewall riots that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. In addition, using an adult theater where queer people feel likely safe its invaded by fear that leads to fight against that form similar to the Stonewall bar in 1969. The justice at the hands of queer people is the most amazing moment in this film, especially a horror film that tackles homosexuality in a turbulent period. Finally, the symbolic end credits which depicts Anne’s latest film with various couples engaging in sex brought a tense moment when the lights turn off interrupting the couples and highlighting their faces. Seeing this scene three times made me to understand the terrifying transition and turbulent moment that queer people will face amid homophobia and disease between the two periods; however, when Archibald smiles it states that the community will live and their existence will not be erased. This scene might have different interpretations, but personally it reflects this uncertainty united by hope that the LGBT community faces.

To conclude, Knife + Heart brought the complex issue of homophobia and its extensive damage to queer people in one of the most important time periods of its history, 1970s. Even though its setting is in Paris, France, the film doesn’t shy away from the problems and generalizes it to see how it can happen anywhere in the world. As a horror film, it was inspiring to see queer people in protecting its community, facing the antagonist and coping with their struggles with society. As a queer horror film, Knife + Heart went straight to the heart without forcing it, just exploring the lives of these characters and understand their issues. Thus, I recommend this movie to any queer person and horror fan to understand its message that still affects us today. This horror film became the perfect example of how queer issues can be represented and explored inside the horror genre. So, thank you cast and crew for making this extraordinary film that will be greatly analyzed for future generations of queer cinema and horror cinema.

References:

Anderson, K. (2019, January 2). Giallo Is the Horror Subgenre You Need to Explore. Retrieved from Nerdist: https://nerdist.com/article/giallo-horror-subgenre-need-to-explore/

Knife+Heart. (2019, June 3). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife%2BHeart