The Wretches - 1960
Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 08:18PM Robert Hossein is a singular, highly controlled, deranged stylist. That is, his style is utterly deranged and perfectly controlled.
THE WRETCHES evokes the original THE HANDMAIDEN; there's an innocent young girl who's an unknowing and passive-aggressive catalyst; it all takes place in one locale - a groovy "modern" apartment set at the apparent end of the world; and the dwelling becomes a character in its own right. As in THE HANDMAIDEN, you cannot believe anyone could shoot one set from so many and so evocative angles.
Hossein is also perverse AF – drowning in voyuerism, jealousy and suppressed and overt sexuality. There's a party/almost orgy that makes LA DOLCE VITA look like MARY POPPINS.
THE WRETCHES has something to do with Hossein fetishizing America, mostly through cars and Coca Cola bottles, but given that he fetishizes getting a glass of water, what that means is hard to say.
All this romance, desire, parental meddling, astonishing camera movement, rich emotion conveyed in silence and big American cars takes place in some unholy wormhole of Jean-Pierre Melville, Sam Fuller and what used to be called "women's melodrama."
That's an awe-struck compliment, by the way. A big one.
Hossein is a master; it's a shame he's not better known and that his films are so difficult to stream or buy. BLONDE IN A WHITE CAR - still my fave - is on DVD.