Sibyl

Having watched and been enthralled by Triet's superb Anatomy of a Fall featuring an excellent Sandra Hüller, I sought out their previous shared feature Sibyl with some excitement; only to be sorely disappointed. Here the oblique and allusive style fails to entrance or in fact even entertain. The image for me is of that carefully constructed style aimed perhaps rather over thoughtfully like a hammer at an intricately fashioned nail...... and being brought down well wide of the mark. Sadly much less than the sum of its parts. Complexity for it's own and not the story's sake. Cloyingly erotic rather than sexy I'm afraid, and emotionally flat.

This film kept me in its grip, and I enjoyed every twist and turn as the plotlines unfolded. The acting was superb and the main characters were complex, compelling and elusive. I'm quite surprised to see such low ratings, but to each their own! To me, the film's seemingly disparate elements/themes (e.g. Trauma, depression, addiction, grief/loss, desire, deception, vanity, power, exploitation) came together to paint a beautifully absurd portrait of the human condition. In particular, the film seems to emphasize the ways that we naively cling to earthly vices/pleasures and deceptive/delusional narratives in our fights against feelings of disillusionment, meaninglessness and hopelessness.

First, the acting is less than perfect but as the film advance, it is more and more right on. The story is complex and simple and psychological and makes sense hilariously. We see gifted people and the replies keep in originality. Nothing predictable and all characters are bright. A delight of a film that has many loose strings hanging after it's over.

This film is a mess of unsavory characters and bad, ridiculously unlikely decision. Some of the acting is good, the storyline is silly, the sex gratuitous and graphic. There is not one interesting character. Despite the attempt to give some background to why sybil is so messed up (an absent mother from whom she distanced herself and a sister who gives sybil's children lectures on how to be manipulative) it's a fail all around.