The School of Flesh (1998) User Reviews

An intelligent movie, but probably not to everybody's taste

[philip_vanderveken · 7/10 · 7 April 2005]

If there is one thing you can't blame the creators of this movie of, than it must be the fact that their movie is too sugar sweet. This is certainly not like any other romantic Hollywood movie that you may have seen in the past. This movie is actually a very good study of people and human nature in not so average but very recognizable situations.

"L'École de la Chair" or "The School of Flesh" could be the title of a cheap porn movie, but it certainly isn't. This is an intelligent movie about a mature fashion executive called Dominique who gets obsessed with Quentin, a bisexual male prostitute. He's a violent man who loves nobody but himself and yet she can't resist him. She is filled with passion, but hates the man at the same time because he always hurts her feelings and doesn't seem to love or care about her. What should she do? Should she show him the door or keep trying to get him out of the prostitution? Should she listen to her friends, colleagues, Quentin's former and current clients... who all try to help her, but sometimes do more harm than good?

Although I would like to say that everybody should watch this movie, I know for sure that not many will like it. This isn't the kind of movie that will easily reach a large audience. Nevertheless this is an interesting movie, but I guess it will be loved most by people who are used to watch this kind of movies or people who like the European cinema. Personally I liked what I saw and that's why I give it a 7.5/10.

One of the best

[raymond-15 · 8/10 · 1 January 2001]

This film is near the top of my list for best films out of France. It is a superb production. The scenes between Dominique (Isabelle Huppert) and Quentin (Vincent Martinez) are completely convincing with natural conversation and sensitive mood changes. While the disparity of ages between lovers is not a new theme, it has never been handled more expertly than here where the older woman wants to "possess" the young call-boy but he is determined to remain a free spirit. What is so arresting in this story is that we know so little about the characters and their past. But information is gleaned bit by bit from their conversations, and never very much, so we hunger for more as the story unfolds. The dewy-eyed Isabelle Huppert in the final scenes reveals her talent as a fine actress. A wonderful piece of cinema that holds you to the end...and what an ending when the two characters realize that their dream has ended and they now face the harsh realities of life.

For Huppert fans and French film buffs only

[=G= · 6/10 · 18 December 2004]

"School of Flesh" tells of the ebb and flow of a sex/love relationship between a well-to-do middle aged woman and a handsome young bisexual male hustler. In typical French fashion the pair of star-crossed protags are locked in constant maneuvering in order to better define the limits of their relationship and their influence over it. Though the film is very well acted and directed with Huppert exuding expressionless controlled intensity, the underlying story seems somehow worn, unoriginal, and lacking the psychodynamics required for audience satisfaction. Recommended only for Huppert fans and aficionados of French cinema. (B-)

Huppert is mesmerizing, but film drags

[Dan-O-4 · 23 April 1999]

I went to this film based solely on the reputation of Isabelle Huppert. I had heard she was one of the greatest actresses in Europe.

Well I have to agree, she is fantastically attractive and talented, and you could watch her for hours, but unfortunately that's what this film seemed like. I don't often fall asleep in the movies but I almost did on this one...

I guess my main problem with the film was that there was never any motivation that I could see for why such an ostensibly attractive and successful woman would do some of the things she did: take in this raggamuffin with the dubious past, and then proceed to take all of his bad treatment, infidelity, and neglect, while feeding and clothing him and giving him a place to live. I guess we are to assume he was just that good in bed, but I think the film would have benefited from a little more "flesh"ing out of the reasons behind the actions. Some will probably say I missed the "nuances" but I just kept asking *why* is she doing this, from their first date when she hung around while he played video games, through to the end. To me it just perpetuated the myth that women are suckers for a pretty face.

But all that said, it was still a pleasure to watch Huppert and I will look for her in other films at my video store.

It was good for me too.

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 10 October 2007]

Director Benoît Jacquot (Right Now) has taken a script by Jacques Fieschi, based on a Japanese novel by Yukio Mishima, added superstar Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher) and Vincent Martinez, in his first acting role to give us an interesting and satisfying look at the older woman/younger man romance.

While having a younger man was satisfying for Dominique (Huppert), the effort to keep him was physically and emotionally exhausting. It did not help that Quentin (Martinez) earned a living being available to men as well.

Huppert is a guarantee for a good show, and she can act, too - a satisfying combination.

A mature woman and a young bisexual hustler, who will be taught a lesson?

[Havan_IronOak · 7/10 · 3 August 2002]

Dominique, a successful woman, meets, sleeps with and begins supporting an attractive young bisexual hustler in Paris. While his life to that point is a complete mystery, it has been a mess and the woman provides him an oasis of calm. He comes to care for her and she for him but he refuses to become domesticated and still goes out at night and refuses to talk with her about it.

When this relationship ends, as it seems all film relationships must, she is given the power to destroy him in the form of some very incriminating photos. It is up to her to decide. How does she really feel? Should she use the power that has been given her?

As only the French know how

[aw-6 · 9/10 · 16 May 1999]

There is something extraordinary about the two leads in this movie. Vincent Martinez was initially quite appalling to look at - scrawny, brooding with features more akin to a caricature! However, as the film progresses, one can sense a certain charisma and physical presence that he projects more and more palpably; yes, even from a man's perspective. But that's as far as it goes for him...

As for Isabelle, my! What an actress, what a woman! These French actress: Catherine Deneuve, Adjani, Beart - very few Hollywood actresses can be placed in the same league as them. This is my first time seeing Ms Huppert perform and I was really blown away. She brought so much contradicting sides to her character and she made them so believable. The character is strong in career and personality, yet vulnerable in her devotion to the above-mentioned man-animal. She is decisive and purposeful in life choices of career, marriage and the man-in-her-life yet defers constantly to the whims and fancies of him. You get the picture!

Anyway, with one single long shot of her face as betrayal, despair and sadness climax into a single track of tears - extraordinary! No self-pity, no cloying sentimentality; just plain sadness at the state of affair....At first glance, she did not appear extraordinarily beautiful. But as the film progresses, she looked increasingly radiant and one can't help but feel drawn to her.

One of the best film I've seen at this year's film festival where more is said through pregnant silences than confrontations and accusations a la Hollywood.

Huppert brilliantly helps Jacquot turn clichés inside out

[netwallah · 9/10 · 15 August 2007]

More than a few French film-makers seem to like to take two strong characters—with different strengths—and throw them together and wait for the reactions. Jacquot's version of this procedure involves an older woman, Dominique (Isabel Huppert) involved with a younger man, the hustler Quentin (Vincent Martinez).

While this pairing suggests cliché, somehow it grows well beyond the usual fare To begin with, Dominique is a complicated character, strong, in control of her life, inclined to be merry though not entirely content with things and hating boredom. It's not entirely clear what she does professionally—perhaps a designer or owner/executive of a fashion company—but she enjoys it and is good at it. She takes her droopy friend (Danièle Dubroux) around with her, and at a nightclub she sees Quentin staring at her. The gay waiter Chris (Vincent Lindon) helps her get acquainted, and an affair begins. Quentin is fickle and stubborn and wayward, turns tricks for money, knows he's good at it, prefers women but doesn't mind men.

He isn't as strong as he looks. Though Quentin makes gestures about preserving his independence, going out, seeing others, and doling out attention according to his convenience, in fact Dominique makes the rules. When he does things that would hurt or threaten a more conventional woman, she remains unfazed. What she wants is Quentin as he is, vibrant and smoldering and vulnerable. It's interesting to watch the way his attempts to assert a bad-boy independence always wind up with him walking away from the supposedly edgy scene—the nightclub where they met, the street where the rent-boys hustle—with Dominique, or heading back to her apartment. And it's surely symbolic that he practices karate enthusiastically in the dojo, but he's not so tough outside, falling down twice in brief fights.

But when inevitably there's a crisis it's not a predictable case of him acting out the bad boy part. No, he plans to marry the pretty young daughter of Dominique's friends. Dominique has the chance to blackmail Quentin with explicit pictures of him having sex with a male client, provided by Chris (who says she wanted to be able to have power over him but not to use it. Dominique is stronger. But she burns them. And in doing so, she realizes they're finished. Quentin wants to stay with Dominique, but by this time she's exhausted. She sends him away; he sits shirtless on the floor, mourning, refusing to leave. Then a brief coda: Dominique a few years later, elegant, with longer hair, runs into Quentin outside a metro stop. He's carrying a young child, his daughter from his by now failed marriage. He gives Dominique his address, but she doesn't take it. She watches him go.

Martinez is pretty good, sneaking in boyishness under the carapace of macho sexuality, and he has a great smile. Lindon is also excellent as Chris, an elective girl with a great knowing look. There are also a couple of brief appearances by an old boyfriend of Quentin's, Soukaz (François Berléant), who is rueful and nervously dignified. The real delight is Huppert, who is simply breathtaking in this part. In other movies she has been called upon for over-the-top effects, but here she uses a subdued, subtle technique, registering emotions with small but affective expressions: boredom, curiosity, desire, joy, discomfort, hope, desperation, humour, calm, sadness, self-control. A great movie, one that turns stereotypes inside out.

A delicate handling of potentially sordid relationships.

[Jim-249 · 9/10 · 10 January 1999]

"Middle-aged divorcee picks up barman in gay bar" isn't a promising plot-line; the title's soft-porn suggestion is also off-putting. But in fact it's a delicate and attractive handling of what could have been sordid relationships. The key word, I suppose, is "tender"; we are frequently led to expect violence (the barman Quentin is a kick-boxer - we watch him attacking a punchbag during the title sequence) but are instead surprised by reasonableness and gentleness. The few nude scenes manage to be erotic without ever being vulgar. Relationships are weird, the film (and Mishima's novel) seems to say, but there can still be tenderness in life. Isabelle Huppert exudes French charm . . .

real love, painful

[Pageharrison · 10/10 · 20 July 2008]

This movie examines obsession of the heart and body. Isabelle is brilliant. She is very personal. She expresses her need to be adored in a very vulnerable way, as in the arcade scene, when the boy refuses to leave. She walks away, the camera tracks with her, revealing her ambivalence and confusion. She then returns, tries to play his games, but is unsuccessful. It's a wonderful scene and she's fabulous. Love to meet and work with this incredible actor. Her expressions are so telling. This movie had subtitles here in American and I really didn't need them most of the time to understand what was happening on the screen. I could identify with needing someone so much that you are addicted to them. Again, terrific movie. No car chases, just people chases.

Huppert is Extraordinaire!

[cs-7 · 10/10 · 21 February 1999]

Huppert is fascinating and wonderful. I could not take my eyes off her face -- the subtle shifts in emotion. You could almost see what she was thinking every moment although there were baffling moments as well. What was she looking for? Vincent is engagingly vulnerable and repulsive at the same time -- bravo to him for an excellent first effort. I'd like to see Isabelle and VIncent paired again in future films.

Highly recommend this film.

Superb study of a mature woman's knowledge of herself

[gonz30 · 8/10 · 25 April 1999]

A superb study of a mature woman's knowledge of her inner self, and acting out on instinct, regardless of the consequences, THE SCHOOL OF FLESH is memorable. Isabelle Huppert, at home playing cold, calculated women, shines as the mature woman, supported by fine performances, notably by Vincent Lindon, in a highly atypical role, and professional direction by veteran Benoit Jacquot.

Older woman/younger man love story

[buff-29 · 18 March 1999]

Isabelle Huppert is as beautiful as ever, but it is hard to see why her character does the things she does in this confused tale of cross-generational lovers. As a middle-aged businesswoman, Huppert takes a much younger bisexual bartender/hustler into her home, pays his debts, buys him clothes. He never seems to treat her well enough to justify her generosity, and he never seems interesting or lovable enough to justify her affection. It all comes unravelled eventually, after enough nude love scenes to keep most of the audience awake most of the time.

Goes beyond the premise

[velli10501 · 8/10 · 5 November 2014]

Although the two protagonists are so different from one another in age, socio-economic status, education, they are both lonely souls who have been deprived of guidance and love. It is the blind leading the blind as they come together in a kind of relationship of convenience.

It seems at first that Dominique seeks a walk on the wild side, but ultimately to tame and to nurture her conquest, while Quentin seems to take even temporary financial support wherever he can find it. The characters' development, through their relationship with each other, and as they expose how their inner life has been conditioned before they met, is a kind of dance of the seven veils.

Neither is who each seems and manages to defy the inevitable stereotype we expect to fit the story's premise.

The nuanced twists and turns in character, and particularly as they forge a relationship with "the other," demands subtle acting. Both actors are up to the task.

Martinez's presence grows as an essential humanity is revealed that elevates him above his day to day urge for survival and autonomy. Isabelle Hubert stuns by restraint, bringing vulnerable dignity to Dominique's emotional trajectory.

They can not change the fate of their relationship, but they leave a lasting impression on each each other nonetheless.

A truly beautiful lady, but a weak plot

[e.dille · 12 January 2001]

Isabelle Ann Huppert is a gorgeous, mature woman. She dominates this film, and even though a strong cast supports her, she still dominates. Her motive for sticking with this jerk remains cloudy, unless he is the world's greatest lover. I was mesmerised by Huppert, however, and I will look for more films with her in them, and there are quite a lot of them.

Love, Sensuality, Foreign Film Yeah!

[mcfan25 · 2 May 2002]

I really enjoyed watching this film because of the passion and sensuality it portrays. I have been watching BRAVO for quite a while now and when it showed this film, I fell in love with it. It starts out strange but gets deeper as you realize just how much in love these two characters are. The ending is a little bit sad and so if you enjoy sensuality this is your film.

interesting

[Vincentiu · 19 May 2014]

not great, not impressive. only interesting. a love story who has care to explore the roots of feelings, expectations, the delicate pieces of relation and motivation who defines it. Isabelle Huppert is the same and the mixture of passion and cold emotion has a splendid translation in her performance. Vincent Lindon is maker of a seductive character for its balance between worlds.and Vincent Martinez is the ideal choice for a vulnerable, selfish and in search of his sense of life guy. it is a film of details and than fact makes it in a different cinema work and, in same measure, reminds the virtues of European art. it is an exercise to rebuild a new-old form of realism. more than story/atmosphere itself, essential are the silence slices. the looks, the gestures, the untold words. so, a special film. or, maybe, just interesting.