Catherine Breillat

This is the first of Breillat's novels to be published in English, and like her films Pornocracy is in examination (or maybe an excavation) of human sexuality and interactions between men and women. At its best the narrative is lucid and challenging, but it never nears the level of confrontation or experimentation found in Acker, nor does it rip into the horrors of the human psyche with a surreal scalpel as does Bataille.
The work itself is only ninety pages and seems in need of a little show more more meat, though it is padded on both ends with an introduction and interview, as well as an afterword that is more a feverish cut-up compliment to the themes of the work rather than a concrete slab of commentary.
Altogether a book that will be enjoyed most by devotees of Breillat's films, though others may find a jewel or two among these words as well. show less